Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009. / Submitted to the African Centre for Crop Improvement. Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Please refer to fulltext for abstract / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sien asb volteks vir opsomming

Weed infestation is one of the yield limiting factors in crop production. Weeds have negative effect on crop growth and productivity due to competition, allelopathy or hosting other harmful organisms. For large-scale wheat production, the use of wide spectrum pre-emergence or post-emergence herbicides remains the most valuable weed control tool. In South Africa, annual grass weeds are a major wheat production constraint, which is usually managed through application of pre-emergence herbicides. Due to limited water availability and low soil moisture content, these herbicides can often become ineffective and result into high weed infestations, which then have to be managed by manual cultivation or post-emergence herbicidal applications. However, there are no effective selective post-emergence herbicides available to control grass weeds in wheat. There is also limited option to use broad-spectrum post-emergent herbicides because they non-selectively kill the crop and weeds. Consequently, the use of herbicide resistant crops is a viable weed management system in wheat production. Breeding herbicide resistant crop varieties would allow farmers to safely use post-emergence herbicides without damaging the crop. Subsequently yield and quality losses will be reduced significantly. Thus, the development of herbicide resistant crop varieties through mutation breeding is a novel approach for effective weed management under both small-scale and commercial farmers. Mutagenesis has been recognized as one of the most efficient method to induce genetic variation in plants. Through induced mutations, development of new variants is possible that could be manipulated in plant breeding programs. Mutation leads to alteration of various traits in crop plants including plant height, improved nutritional quality, shorter growing period, increased tolerance or resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Ethylmethanesulphonate (EMS) is one of the most widely used chemical mutagens to induce mutagenesis in crop plants. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the optimum EMS concentration, treatment temperature and duration that would provide desired germination percentage and vigorous and healthy seedlings for effective mutagenesis in wheat, 2) investigate variations in agro-morphological traits in two selected wheat varieties (SST56 and SST875) after EMS mutagenesis and 3) select herbicide resistant wheat germplasm after inducing genetic variation using EMS using two selected wheat varieties (SST56 and SST875). The objectives were achieved through three independent studies as outlined below: In the first study seeds of four selected wheat varieties (B936, B966, SST387 and SST875) were treated in two replicates with three EMS concentrations (0.3, 0.5, and 0.7%), three temperature regimes (30, 32.5 and 35 °C) at four time durations (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 hrs). Results showed highly significant interactions (P<0.01) among varieties, EMS concentrations, temperature and exposure time on seedling emergence, germination and seedling height. Seeds treated with the highest EMS dose (0.7%), temperature (35ºC) and long exposure time (2 hr) showed delayed emergence by 18 days. At 30ºC, 0.5hr and 0.3% EMS varieties B936, B966 and SST875 had early emergence (6 days). B936 and SST387 had 50% while B966 and SST875 had 53% and 57% germination, respectively. These results were observed at EMS level of 0.7%, 300C and 1.5 hr exposure time in B936 and EMS at 0.5%, 350C and 1.5 hr in B966. SST387 and SST875 required EMS dose at 0.5%, 32.50C and 2 hr treatment time. Other low or high treatment combinations were invariably ineffective comparedto untreated control. During the second study two selected varieties (SST56 and SST875) were subjected to EMS mutagenesis using 0.5% v/v EMS at 32.5oC for 1 hr. Field trials were carried out at Ukulinga research farm of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the randomized complete block design with two replicates. Data on nine important agro-morphological traits were collected and analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) procedures. Significant variations were found among the agro-morphological traits between M1 individuals compared to untreated checks. The mutagenesis significantly reduced seed germination in the field at 40% in both varieties. The treatment significantly delayed days to heading by 8 days and shortened days to maturity by 13 days in both varieties. EMS treatment also significantly reduced plant height at 18 cm in SST56 and 21 cm in SST875 and spike length reduced by ~2.5 cm in both varieties. Plant height had positive and significant correlation with number of tillers, number of seeds per spike, flag leaf length and 100 seed weight. However, it had negative correlation with the number of days to maturity. The PCA revealed that three principal components (PC1, PC2 and PC3) accounted to 57% of the total variations among the agro-morphological traits in both varieties. PC1 alone contributed to 27.7% of the variation which was well-correlated with plant height (0.767), tiller number (0.812), number of seeds per spike (0.599) and seed yield (0.720). PC2 explained 15.6% of the variation and well-correlated with germination percentage (0.784), spike length (0.554) and flag leaf length (0.772). PC3 accounted to 12.4% of the variation and had negative correlation with days to maturity (-0.730). In the last study, seeds of two selected wheat varieties (SST56 and SST875) were treated with EMS at 0.5% concentration for 2 hr at 32.5ºC. Treated seeds and comparative controls were planted at the experimental farm of the University of KwaZulu-Natal using the randomized complete block design. Four weeks after planting M1 plants and untreated standard checks were sprayed with two herbicides, i.e. metsulfuron-methyl and bromoxynil at three different doses viz. 2x, 4x and 8x above the recommended rate of 4 g ha-1 and 2 kg ha-1, respectively. Two weeks after the treatment herbicide resistance were assessed. Results showed significant difference among varieties, tested herbicides and doses used. The EMS treated wheat lines showed variable degree of herbicide resistance compared to untreated controls. Overall, the study established the requirement of variety specific EMS dose and treatment temperature and duration that could be used for inducing large-scale mutation to select targeted mutant individuals in wheat. Further, the study found that EMS has the potential to increase agro-morphological variations in wheat to select useful and novel mutants with desired phenotypic traits and herbicide resistance which will be subjected for further selections to identify stable and herbicide resistance lines. / Thesis (M.Sc.Agric.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Crop production provides the food and fiber necessary to sustain the world\'s population. Effective weed management is critical to maintaining agricultural productivity. Intensive or continuous use of herbicides that act on the same target site, or are detoxified by similar processes within crops and target weeds frequently results in the development of weeds resistant to a specific herbicide or class of herbicides. Weed resistance due to the extensive use of glyphosate in glyphosate tolerant crop systems has become one of the most serious issues facing agriculture today. Thus PPO-inhibitor herbicides are an alternative mechanism of action that have the potential to mitigate the development of resistant weeds in weed control systems where crop tolerance is sufficient to allow them to be effectively deployed. While there are few reports of weed resistance to PPO-inhibitor herbicides it has not developed to the extent that it is a commercial problem for growers. When used at recommended doses, they typically have favorable regulatory profiles. Furthermore, most of them are highly compatible with no-tillage agriculture. However, PPO-inhibitor herbicides are typically more active on dicots than monocots. This thesis provides information with regards to effectiveness of certain binary mixtures of PPO herbicides as weed control agents. The mixtures showed synergistic effects and could control monocots as Echinochloa crus-galli and volunteer corn besides control the dicots species. Regarding the compounds studied, trifludimoxazin and flumioxazin required less amount of compound to inhibit 50% of PPO2 activity in all plants species tested, while sulfentrazone and saflufenacil, one of the best mixtures in the field, showed that needed bigger concentrations to inhibit 50% of the PPO2 compared to other compounds evaluated.The absorption and translocation of these compounds individually or in mixtures, showed that as single compounds, the absorption was slower in maize than E. crus-galli and there was no difference among the herbicides except trifludimoxazin, that was significantly lower than the other compounds. Saflufenacil was the herbicide that showed the best translocation out of treated leaf point, while trifludimoxazin has not shown any translocation out of leaf treated. In mixtures, the compounds showed some differences in absorption and translocation, which it was variable according to species studied. Some traits of PPO-tolerant were also evaluated in Arabidopsis thaliana which indicates potential traits to be developed in crops of interest. / Agricultura é responsável por fornecer alimento e fibras necessárias para sustentar a população mundial. Controle de plantas daninhas é essencial para obter uma boa produtividade. O uso intensivo de herbicidas que age no mesmo sitio de ação ou são detoxificados por processos similares pelas plantas daninhas resulta geralmente no desenvolvimento de plantas daninhas resistentes a um herbicida específico ou à uma classe de herbicidas. A resistência de plantas daninhas devido ao uso de culturas tolerantes à glifosato tem se tornado um dos mais sérios problemas na agricultura. Inibidores da PPO pode ser uma ferramenta para mitigar o desenvolvimento de plantas daninhas resistentes. Há poucos relatos de plantas daninhas resistentes a este mecanismo de ação. Quando aplicados na dose recomendada, apresentam perfil toxicológico favorável e além disso, a maioria dos herbicidas deste grupo são compatíveis com plantio direto. No entanto, são mais eficientes em dicotiledôneas do que em monocotiledôneas. O objetivo dessa tese foi fornecer informações em relação a associação binária de herbicidas inibidores da PPO no controle de plantas daninhas. As associações mostraram efeito sinérgico no controle de Echinochloa crus-galli e milho voluntário, além do controle de dicotiledôneas. Avaliou-se também a atividade de alguns inibidores da PPO na inibição de 50% da enzima PPO2 e observou-se que para inibir 50% da PPO2 necessitou de menor quantidade de trifludimoxazin e flumioxazin em todas as plantas testadas, enquanto que sulfentrazone e saflufenacil, que associados apresentaram a melhor eficácia nos ensaios de campo, mostraram que precisar de maiores concentrações para inibir a PPO2 comparada aos outros produtos. A absorção e translocação destes produtos, isolados ou em mistura, mostraram que a absorção foi mais lenta em milho do que em E. crus-galli. Os herbicidas apresentaram comportamentos similares, sendo absorvidos quase 95% até 72 horas após aplicação, com exceção do trifludimoxazin, que foi significativamente mais lento que os outros. Saflufenacil foi o herbicida que apresentou melhor translocação na folha aplicada, enquanto trifludimoxazin não apresentou nenhuma translocação. Em relação às associações, os produtos mostraram diferenças na absorção e translocação, variando conforme as plantas daninhas estudadas. Alguns eventos tolerantes a inibidores da PPO foram avaliados em Arabidopsis thaliana e indicaram como potenciais eventos para ser desenvolvidos nas culturas de interesse.

Crop production provides the food and fiber necessary to sustain the world\'s population. Effective weed management is critical to maintaining agricultural productivity. Intensive or continuous use of herbicides that act on the same target site, or are detoxified by similar processes within crops and target weeds frequently results in the development of weeds resistant to a specific herbicide or class of herbicides. Weed resistance due to the extensive use of glyphosate in glyphosate tolerant crop systems has become one of the most serious issues facing agriculture today. Thus PPO-inhibitor herbicides are an alternative mechanism of action that have the potential to mitigate the development of resistant weeds in weed control systems where crop tolerance is sufficient to allow them to be effectively deployed. While there are few reports of weed resistance to PPO-inhibitor herbicides it has not developed to the extent that it is a commercial problem for growers. When used at recommended doses, they typically have favorable regulatory profiles. Furthermore, most of them are highly compatible with no-tillage agriculture. However, PPO-inhibitor herbicides are typically more active on dicots than monocots. This thesis provides information with regards to effectiveness of certain binary mixtures of PPO herbicides as weed control agents. The mixtures showed synergistic effects and could control monocots as Echinochloa crus-galli and volunteer corn besides control the dicots species. Regarding the compounds studied, trifludimoxazin and flumioxazin required less amount of compound to inhibit 50% of PPO2 activity in all plants species tested, while sulfentrazone and saflufenacil, one of the best mixtures in the field, showed that needed bigger concentrations to inhibit 50% of the PPO2 compared to other compounds evaluated.The absorption and translocation of these compounds individually or in mixtures, showed that as single compounds, the absorption was slower in maize than E. crus-galli and there was no difference among the herbicides except trifludimoxazin, that was significantly lower than the other compounds. Saflufenacil was the herbicide that showed the best translocation out of treated leaf point, while trifludimoxazin has not shown any translocation out of leaf treated. In mixtures, the compounds showed some differences in absorption and translocation, which it was variable according to species studied. Some traits of PPO-tolerant were also evaluated in Arabidopsis thaliana which indicates potential traits to be developed in crops of interest. / Agricultura é responsável por fornecer alimento e fibras necessárias para sustentar a população mundial. Controle de plantas daninhas é essencial para obter uma boa produtividade. O uso intensivo de herbicidas que age no mesmo sitio de ação ou são detoxificados por processos similares pelas plantas daninhas resulta geralmente no desenvolvimento de plantas daninhas resistentes a um herbicida específico ou à uma classe de herbicidas. A resistência de plantas daninhas devido ao uso de culturas tolerantes à glifosato tem se tornado um dos mais sérios problemas na agricultura. Inibidores da PPO pode ser uma ferramenta para mitigar o desenvolvimento de plantas daninhas resistentes. Há poucos relatos de plantas daninhas resistentes a este mecanismo de ação. Quando aplicados na dose recomendada, apresentam perfil toxicológico favorável e além disso, a maioria dos herbicidas deste grupo são compatíveis com plantio direto. No entanto, são mais eficientes em dicotiledôneas do que em monocotiledôneas. O objetivo dessa tese foi fornecer informações em relação a associação binária de herbicidas inibidores da PPO no controle de plantas daninhas. As associações mostraram efeito sinérgico no controle de Echinochloa crus-galli e milho voluntário, além do controle de dicotiledôneas. Avaliou-se também a atividade de alguns inibidores da PPO na inibição de 50% da enzima PPO2 e observou-se que para inibir 50% da PPO2 necessitou de menor quantidade de trifludimoxazin e flumioxazin em todas as plantas testadas, enquanto que sulfentrazone e saflufenacil, que associados apresentaram a melhor eficácia nos ensaios de campo, mostraram que precisar de maiores concentrações para inibir a PPO2 comparada aos outros produtos. A absorção e translocação destes produtos, isolados ou em mistura, mostraram que a absorção foi mais lenta em milho do que em E. crus-galli. Os herbicidas apresentaram comportamentos similares, sendo absorvidos quase 95% até 72 horas após aplicação, com exceção do trifludimoxazin, que foi significativamente mais lento que os outros. Saflufenacil foi o herbicida que apresentou melhor translocação na folha aplicada, enquanto trifludimoxazin não apresentou nenhuma translocação. Em relação às associações, os produtos mostraram diferenças na absorção e translocação, variando conforme as plantas daninhas estudadas. Alguns eventos tolerantes a inibidores da PPO foram avaliados em Arabidopsis thaliana e indicaram como potenciais eventos para ser desenvolvidos nas culturas de interesse.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an important cereal crop in sub-Saharan Africa. The parasitic weed Striga hermonthica is a major biotic constraint to sorghum production. A novel technology where planting seeds are coated with herbicide to kill Striga that attach to the roots of the host has been shown to be effective in protecting the cereal crop from Striga damage. However, the host plant must have herbicide tolerance. This technology has not been tested in sorghum because there are no herbicide tolerant sorghum varieties available in Kenya and is, therefore, unavailable for subsistence farmers. One of the ways in which genetic variation can be enhanced and herbicide resistance developed is through chemical mutagenesis with ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS). The objectives of this project, therefore, were to: 1) identify sorghum production constraints through farmer PRA in order to determine breeding priorities.in two Striga endemic districts in western Kenya; 2) develop an EMS mutagenesis protocol for sorghum and to enhance the genetic variability of the crop using chemical mutagenesis; 3) evaluate EMS-derived sorghum mutants for improved agronomic performance; 4) develop acetolactate synthase (ALS) herbicide resistance in sorghum and to characterize the mode of inheritance of the trait; 5) determine the effect of herbicide coating of seed of herbicide tolerant sorghum on Striga infestation. In order to determine breeding priorities and constraints in sorghum production and the likelihood of adoption of herbicide seed coating technology, a survey involving 213 farmers was conducted in two Striga endemic rural districts of Nyanza province in Kenya. Results indicated that local landraces like Ochuti, and Nyakabala were grown by more farmers (> 60%) than the improved varieties like Seredo and Serena (48%). Popularity of the landraces was linked to Striga tolerance, resistance to drought, bird damage and storage pests, yield stability and high satiety value. Major constraints to sorghum production were drought, Striga weed, storage pests, bird damage and poverty among the rural farmers. Important characteristics farmers wanted in new varieties were Striga and drought resistance, earliness, resistance to bird and weevil damage and good taste. Striga infestations in sorghum fields were > 70%. Cultural Striga control options were considered inadequate while inorganic fertilization and chemical control were considered effective but unaffordable. Farmers’ willingness to pay a premium of over 30% for a Striga solution gave indication that herbicide seed coating if effective could be adopted by farmers. As a prerequisite to development of herbicide resistance, a comparative study was carried out to determine optimum conditions for mutagenesis and to induce genetic variation in the sorghum. Two sorghum varieties were mutagenized using varying concentrations (0.1 to 1.5% v/v) of EMS and two exposure times (6h and 12h). In laboratory and greenhouse experiments, severe reduction of sorghum root and shoot lengths indicated effective mutagenesis. The LD50 based on shoot length reduction was 0.35% and 0.4% EMS for 6h for Seredo and Kari/mtama-1, respectively. The highest mutation frequency based on chlorophyll abnormalities was 56% for 0.3% EMS for 6h. In the M2 generation, phenotypic variances for panicle characteristics were increased on treatment with EMS. However, significant effects of exposure time and variety indicated the necessity of genotype optimization for some traits. In order to determine the significance of mutation breeding in sorghum, 78 mutant lines derived from EMS mutagenesis, their wild type progenitor (Seredo) and two local checks (Kari/mtama-1 and Serena) were evaluated for agronomic performance in two locations in Kenya. There were significant (P = 0.05) effects among entries for grain yield, 1000-seed weight and visual scores for height uniformity, head exertion, head architecture and overall desirability. The highest yielding entry-mutant line “SB2M13” had a yield of 160% and 152% relative to the wild type (Seredo) and the best check Kari/mtama-1, respectively. Mutant line “tag27” had the highest 1000-seed weight which was 133% relative to the wild type. Seven mutant lines were rated superior to the wild type for panicle characteristics, head exertion and overall desirability. However, the majority of mutants were inferior to the wild type for most characteristics. Superior mutant lines may be developed into direct mutant varieties after multi-location trials or used as breeding material for sorghum improvement. In order to develop acetolactate synthase (ALS) herbicide resistance in sorghum, over 50,000 seeds of Seredo were mutagenized with 0.3% EMS. Over four million M2 plants were screened using 20g ha-1 of the ALS herbicide, sulfosulfuron. Five mutants (hb46 hb12, hb462, hb56 and hb8) survived the herbicide treatment and were confirmed to be tolerant. Mutant lines displayed differential herbicide tolerance, and the general order of tolerance after spray or seed coat application was hb46 > hb12 > hb462 ~ hb56 > hb8. The LD50 values for herbicide application as a spray, or seed coat, showed mutant lines to be up to 20 and 170 fold, respectively, more resistant than the wild type. Chi square analysis of data from herbicide screening of F2 generation of mutant X wild type crosses indicated no difference from the Mendelian segregation of 1:2:1 indicating the herbicide tolerance was inherited as a single semi-dominant gene. Mutant X mutant crosses did not show allelism indicating that the tolerance in all five mutants could be a result of the same gene mutation. To determine effect of herbicide seed coating on Striga infestation, the five herbicide tolerant mutant lines, hb46, hb12, hb462, hb56 and hb8 and the wild type progenitor Seredo were coated with varying concentrations (0.5-1.5% g ha-1) of sulfosulfuron and planted in a Striga endemic field. There were significant (P=0.05) effects of herbicide concentration on Striga density, Striga flowering and seed set, and sorghum plant stand and biomass. All treatments with herbicide coated on sorghum seeds had lower Striga emergence. Coating sorghum seed with 1g ha-1 sulfosulfuron reduced Striga infestation, Striga flowering and Striga seed set by 47%, 52% and 77%, respectively, and was considered the most effective rate as it did not result in sorghum biomass reduction. Mutants displayed differential herbicide tolerance and Striga resistance. Combining seed coating with high herbicide tolerance and inherent Striga resistance would be most effective for Striga control. Overall, the study showed that EMS mutagenesis is effective in inducing variation in sorghum for several traits including herbicide resistance. The mutants developed in this study will be important for sorghum breeding and for protection of sorghum against the Striga weed. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.