Analysis of cold tolerance in sorghum under controlled environment conditions

Grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) originated in the semi-arid tropics and is generally sensitive to low-temperature stress. Early planting and use of minimum tillage necessitate the development of sorghum hybrids with early season cold tolerance. Genetic variability for cold tolerance exists in sorghum and has been detected by early planting under field conditions and by analysis of seeds and plants under growth chamber conditions. There is limited information on the efficiency of evaluating cold tolerance under growth chamber conditions and the relationship with field performance. The objectives of this study were to quantify the variability of cold tolerance in commercial hybrid seed lots under growth chamber conditions, to exam different components of cold tolerance and their relationships, and to evaluate the consistency of lab test results with data from field tests. Thirty commercial hybrid seed lots were evaluated by growing the entries under 15/10, 13/10, 11/8, and 25/20 °C day/night temperature in a 13/11 h cycle in a growth chamber. Traits measured included emergence percentage, emergence index, shoot and root dry weight, seedling height, and vigor score. Significant genotypic differences were detected for all traits. Correlations among the traits were significant and favorable, which confirmed that simultaneous improvement of these traits should be possible. The same seed lots were also evaluated in a soil-free plate-based assay, in which percent germination, and shoot and root elongation of the seed lots grown in dark at 15 °C were measured. Results from both laboratory tests, soil-based and plate-based, were correlated with data collected in a field study, which was conducted to evaluate cold tolerance of commercial sorghum hybrids at Manhattan, Hesston, Bellville, and Garden City, KS in 1998 and 1999. Single-trait correlations between lab and field studies were significant. Differentiation based on rank-summation index of common traits, rank-summation index correlations and the overlap of best entries, further provided strong support of the efficiency of predicting and identifying elite hybrids using growth chamber assays.

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