The federally mandated 36 billion gallons a year production goal for "advanced biofuels" by 2022 has created a demand for lignocellulosic feedstocks that are inexpensive to produce. The current lack of market development for lignocellulosic feedstocks incentivizes the development of versatile biomass products with greater end-use possibilities, as in either a forage or bioenergy system. High-biomass, perennial grasses offer dual-use potential in either forage or biofuel systems. In 2009 and 2010 controlled pollinations were made to evaluate the efficiency of producing interspecific hybrids between homozygous recessive iap/iap and Iap/- Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, cultivated sorghum, and three S. halepense (L.) Pers., johnsongrass, genotypes. The iap/iap genotype removes reproductive barriers to alien pollen in S. bicolor and aids in wide hybridization. Total seed set, germinable seed set, and hybrid production were significantly higher using the iap/iap genotype. The iap/iap S. bicolor genotype is a valuable tool available to plant breeders for the creation of wide hybrids with S. halepense. In a related study a bulked segregant analysis was conducted using bulked samples of S. bicolor, typical flowering S. halepense, non-flowering S. halepense, and putative triploid hybrids of the two species to identify unique markers for each bulk and to evaluate S. bicolor genetic material introgression into the non-flowering S. halepense genome. Thirty-nine and 23 markers were found to be unique to the S. bicolor and typical flowering S. halepense bulks, respectively. These unique markers could be used in a breeding program to identify interspecific hybrids. Alleles at fifteen markers were found in both the S. bicolor and non-flowering S. halepense bulks but not in typical flowering S. halepense and may help explain the non-flowering phenotype. In 2010 and 2011 a study was conducted to investigate the rhizome composition of 11 genotypes of Sorghum species and its relationship to overwintering. Genotype, environment, and sampling date had significant effects on rhizome metabolite concentrations. Overwintering capacity was related to fructans and crude protein concentrations and NIRS (Near Infrared Spectroscopy) was effective at estimating these values. This information can be used to screen for stronger perennial parents to be used in future breeding programs.

Agronomic and physiological traits associated with drought adaptation were assessed within the Seri/Babax recombinant inbred line population, derived from parents similar in height and maturity but divergent in their sensitivity to drought. Field trials under different water regimes were conducted over three years in Mexico and under rainfed conditions in Australia. Under drought, canopy temperature (CT) was the single-most drought-adaptive trait contributing to a higher performance (R2= 0.71, p<0.0001), highly heritable (h2= 0.65, p<0.0001) and consistently associated with yield phenotypically (r= -0.75, p<0.0001) and genetically [R(g)= -0.95, p<0.0001]. CT epitomises a mechanism of dehydration avoidance expressed throughout the growing season and across latitudes, which can be utilised as a selection criteria to identify high-yielding wheat genotypes or as an important predictor of yield performance under drought. Early response under drought, suggested by a high association of CT with estimates of biomass at booting (r= -0.44, p<0.0001), leaf chlorophyll (r= -0.22,p<0.0001) and plant height (r= -0.64, p<0.0001), contrast with the small relationships with anthesis and maturity (averaged, r= -0.10, p<0.0001), and with osmotic potential (r= -0.20, p<0.0001). Results suggest that the ability to extract water from the soil under increasing soil water deficit is a major attribute of drought adaptation. Ample genetic variation and significant transgressive segregation under drought suggested a polygenic governance feasible of dissection via molecular markers of CT and associated physiological and agronomic traits. Bulked segregant analysis of selected secondary traits was utilised as an alternative to complete genome mapping, due to a low polymorphism (27%) within the cross and limited chromosomic linkage of loci. The assessment of the extremes of expression in a genotypic subset with a composite molecular database of 127 markers (PCR-based and AFLPs) allowed evaluation of the three hexaploid wheat genomes and coverage of all chromosomic groups, except 3D. One-way analysis of variance indicated significant associations of loci explaining phenotypic variance under drought and rainfed conditions, of 20-70% in Mexico and 20-45% in Australia (F>5.00, p<0.05). Significant loci were established in both latitudes for all physiological and agronomic traits assessed via BSA, with CT being the trait with the most numerous associations (in Mexico, 34 loci; in Australia, 24). Results demonstrate an efficient development of molecular markers associated to physiological traits under specific soil water conditions in Mexico and Australia, and suggest further genomic and transcriptomic studies be conducted for unravelling the complex relationship between drought adaptation and performance under drought. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284279 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 2007

Agronomic and physiological traits associated with drought adaptation were assessed within the Seri/Babax recombinant inbred line population, derived from parents similar in height and maturity but divergent in their sensitivity to drought. Field trials under different water regimes were conducted over three years in Mexico and under rainfed conditions in Australia. Under drought, canopy temperature (CT) was the single-most drought-adaptive trait contributing to a higher performance (R2= 0.71, p<0.0001), highly heritable (h2= 0.65, p<0.0001) and consistently associated with yield phenotypically (r= -0.75, p<0.0001) and genetically [R(g)= -0.95, p<0.0001]. CT epitomises a mechanism of dehydration avoidance expressed throughout the growing season and across latitudes, which can be utilised as a selection criteria to identify high-yielding wheat genotypes or as an important predictor of yield performance under drought. Early response under drought, suggested by a high association of CT with estimates of biomass at booting (r= -0.44, p<0.0001), leaf chlorophyll (r= -0.22,p<0.0001) and plant height (r= -0.64, p<0.0001), contrast with the small relationships with anthesis and maturity (averaged, r= -0.10, p<0.0001), and with osmotic potential (r= -0.20, p<0.0001). Results suggest that the ability to extract water from the soil under increasing soil water deficit is a major attribute of drought adaptation. Ample genetic variation and significant transgressive segregation under drought suggested a polygenic governance feasible of dissection via molecular markers of CT and associated physiological and agronomic traits. Bulked segregant analysis of selected secondary traits was utilised as an alternative to complete genome mapping, due to a low polymorphism (27%) within the cross and limited chromosomic linkage of loci. The assessment of the extremes of expression in a genotypic subset with a composite molecular database of 127 markers (PCR-based and AFLPs) allowed evaluation of the three hexaploid wheat genomes and coverage of all chromosomic groups, except 3D. One-way analysis of variance indicated significant associations of loci explaining phenotypic variance under drought and rainfed conditions, of 20-70% in Mexico and 20-45% in Australia (F>5.00, p<0.05). Significant loci were established in both latitudes for all physiological and agronomic traits assessed via BSA, with CT being the trait with the most numerous associations (in Mexico, 34 loci; in Australia, 24). Results demonstrate an efficient development of molecular markers associated to physiological traits under specific soil water conditions in Mexico and Australia, and suggest further genomic and transcriptomic studies be conducted for unravelling the complex relationship between drought adaptation and performance under drought. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1284279 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 2007

Resumo: A seleção assistida por marcadores moleculares têm contribuído com os estudos para o desenvolvimento de cultivares resistentes. Os ganhos mais evidentes podem ocorrer em doenças como a ferrugem asiática da soja, onde a alta variabilidade do patógeno e a busca por novas fontes de resistência têm dificultado o sucesso dos melhoristas. Assim, os objetivos deste trabalho foram estudar a herança da resistência à ferrugem em diferentes fontes e desenvolver marcadores SCAR ligados a um loco de resistência para seleção assistida. Populações F2 oriundas dos cruzamentos PI 459025 x CD 208 (1), PI 200526 x CD 205 (2), PI 200456 x Conquista (3) e GC 84058-21-4 x IAC Foscarin 31 (4) foram submetidas à inoculação com a ferrugem e avaliadas quanto ao tipo de lesão (RB - resistente ou TAN - suscetível). O teste de Qui-quadrado indicou a presença de um gene dominante para os cruzamentos 1 e 2, enquanto no 3 e 4 observou-se a presença de um gene recessivo. A análise multivariada agrupou os genótipos mais similares, com base nos caracteres severidade da doença, número de vagens, número de sementes e ciclo, avaliados nos cruzamentos 2 a 4. Diferenças significativas foram encontradas em número de lesões e esporulação para genótipos RB e TAN. Dois bulks de DNA foram obtidos de plantas homozigotas resistentes e suscetíveis no cruzamento 1, para a análise de BSA. Dos 600 iniciadores RAPD testados, três foram discriminativos e localizam-se a 4,5, 6,2 e 10,2 cM do loco de resistência, em fase de repulsão. Um desses marcadores foi convertido a SCAR e se manteve discriminativo, podendo ser indicado para seleção assistida de genótipos resistentes com a mesma fonte. / Abstract: Assisted selection by molecular markers has contributed to development studies of resistant cultivars. The most evident gains may occur for diseases like the Asian soybean rust, where the high variability of pathogen and the search for new resistance sources has difficult the breeder success. Thus, the aims of this work were to study the rust resistance inheritance in different sources and develop SCAR markers linked to a rust resistance locus for assisted selection. F2 populations from crosses PI 459025 x CD 208 (1), PI 200526 x CD 205 (2), PI 200456 x Conquista (3) and GC 84058-21-4 x IAC Foscarin 31 (4) were submitted to rust inoculation and evaluated by the lesion type reaction (RB - resistant or TAN - susceptible). Chi-square test indicated the presence of a single dominant gene for crosses 1 and 2, whereas the 3 and 4 crosses showed a single recessive gene. Multivariate analysis has grouped the most similar genotypes based on disease severity, number of pods, number of seeds and cycle for 2 to 4 crosses. Significant differences were observed in lesions number and sporulation rate for RB and TAN genotypes. Two DNA bulks were obtained, for BSA analysis, on cross 1, from resistant and susceptible homozygous plants. From the 600 tested RAPD primers, three of them were discriminative and located in repulsion phase at 4.5, 6.2 and 10.2 cM from the resistance locus. One of the RAPD markers was converted to SCAR and confirmed its discriminative nature. So it can be indicated for assisted selection of genotypes with the same resistance source. / Orientador: Antonio Orlando Di Mauro / Coorientador: José Baldin Pinheiro / Coorientadora: Sandra Helena Unêda Trevisoli / Banca: Eduardo Antonio Gavioli / Banca: Natal Antonio Vello / Banca: Janete Apparecida Desidério Sena / Banca: Rinaldo César de Paula / Doutor

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-08-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:42:47Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 costa_mm_dr_jabo.pdf: 539143 bytes, checksum: 38e4165c8bd5de4a8cf35184bd7ea3a7 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A seleção assistida por marcadores moleculares têm contribuído com os estudos para o desenvolvimento de cultivares resistentes. Os ganhos mais evidentes podem ocorrer em doenças como a ferrugem asiática da soja, onde a alta variabilidade do patógeno e a busca por novas fontes de resistência têm dificultado o sucesso dos melhoristas. Assim, os objetivos deste trabalho foram estudar a herança da resistência à ferrugem em diferentes fontes e desenvolver marcadores SCAR ligados a um loco de resistência para seleção assistida. Populações F2 oriundas dos cruzamentos PI 459025 x CD 208 (1), PI 200526 x CD 205 (2), PI 200456 x Conquista (3) e GC 84058-21-4 x IAC Foscarin 31 (4) foram submetidas à inoculação com a ferrugem e avaliadas quanto ao tipo de lesão (RB – resistente ou TAN – suscetível). O teste de Qui-quadrado indicou a presença de um gene dominante para os cruzamentos 1 e 2, enquanto no 3 e 4 observou-se a presença de um gene recessivo. A análise multivariada agrupou os genótipos mais similares, com base nos caracteres severidade da doença, número de vagens, número de sementes e ciclo, avaliados nos cruzamentos 2 a 4. Diferenças significativas foram encontradas em número de lesões e esporulação para genótipos RB e TAN. Dois bulks de DNA foram obtidos de plantas homozigotas resistentes e suscetíveis no cruzamento 1, para a análise de BSA. Dos 600 iniciadores RAPD testados, três foram discriminativos e localizam-se a 4,5, 6,2 e 10,2 cM do loco de resistência, em fase de repulsão. Um desses marcadores foi convertido a SCAR e se manteve discriminativo, podendo ser indicado para seleção assistida de genótipos resistentes com a mesma fonte. / Assisted selection by molecular markers has contributed to development studies of resistant cultivars. The most evident gains may occur for diseases like the Asian soybean rust, where the high variability of pathogen and the search for new resistance sources has difficult the breeder success. Thus, the aims of this work were to study the rust resistance inheritance in different sources and develop SCAR markers linked to a rust resistance locus for assisted selection. F2 populations from crosses PI 459025 x CD 208 (1), PI 200526 x CD 205 (2), PI 200456 x Conquista (3) and GC 84058-21-4 x IAC Foscarin 31 (4) were submitted to rust inoculation and evaluated by the lesion type reaction (RB – resistant or TAN – susceptible). Chi-square test indicated the presence of a single dominant gene for crosses 1 and 2, whereas the 3 and 4 crosses showed a single recessive gene. Multivariate analysis has grouped the most similar genotypes based on disease severity, number of pods, number of seeds and cycle for 2 to 4 crosses. Significant differences were observed in lesions number and sporulation rate for RB and TAN genotypes. Two DNA bulks were obtained, for BSA analysis, on cross 1, from resistant and susceptible homozygous plants. From the 600 tested RAPD primers, three of them were discriminative and located in repulsion phase at 4.5, 6.2 and 10.2 cM from the resistance locus. One of the RAPD markers was converted to SCAR and confirmed its discriminative nature. So it can be indicated for assisted selection of genotypes with the same resistance source.