27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level

Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa:

From Field to Gene Level

+P -P

Willmar L. Leiser, Henry Frederick W. Rattunde, Eva Weltzien, Ndiaga Cisse, Magagi Abdou, Abdoulaye Diallo, Abocar O. Touré, Barbara Hufnagel,

Jurandir V. Magalhaes and Bettina I.G. Haussmann

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 2

Phosphorus – West Africa

Mueller et al. 2012; Nature;490;7419;254-257

Fertilizer Input

West Africa

• Highly weathered soils, low pH, low soil organic matter and high P fixation

• most smallholder farmers fields show very low levels of plant available soil P (<6ppm Bray-1 P) • fields, which are cropped by women show generally even lower values (<3ppm Bray-1 P)

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 3

8 Genotypes

Experiments

Year 2006-201070 Genotypes

Year 2010-201280 Genotypes

Year 2011-201260 Genotypes

High P (>20kg P) vs Low P (0kg P)

29 (48) useful field trials+ pot experiment+ extra field trials

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 4

Sorghum – Phosphorus – Interaction

+P

-P +P

-P

~ 10% delay in flowering ~ 30% plant height reduction

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 5

Sorghum – Phosphorus – Interaction

+P

-P

More than 50% yield reduction

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 6

Genotype – by – Phosphorus

• strong correlation between –P and +P grain yield performance• direct selection necessary, feasible and more efficient

Leiser et al., 2012. Crop Science

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 7

Phosphorus – Soil – Plant

40 45 50 55 60 650

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

R² = 0.0491386597095982

Crown Root Angle (°)

PBM

(kg

ha-1

)

30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 750

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

R² = 0.0101883582820438

Mycorrhiza Colonized Root Length (%)

P BM

(kg

ha-1

)• Landraces are important source germplasm• No single adaptation mechanism identified

Yield P-uptakeP-conc. P-use

Leiser et al., 2014. Plant and Soil

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 8

Genome-Wide-Association-Mapping

GWAS for grain yield BLUPs of 187 WCA sorghum genotypes evaluated across 29 environments in three West African countries from 2006-2012. 220,934 SNPs derived from Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS).

Leiser et al., 2014. BMC Plant Biology

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 9

P-efficiency and Al-tolerance

Possible pleiotropic effect of SbMATE on Al-tolerance and P-efficiencyLeiser et al., 2014. BMC Plant Biology

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 10

Candidate gene PSTOL1 -rice

Gamuyao et al. 2012; Nature; 488;7412;535-539

• exploiting genomic synteny of rice and sorghum• homologous genes for PSTOL1 in sorghum identified

Hufnagel et al., 2014, Plant Physiology

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 11

Candidate gene PSTOL1 -rice

Brazil West Africa

Hufnagel et al., 2014, Plant Physiology

PSTOL1 involved in P-efficiency in sorghum through possibly similar mechanism as in rice

Sb03g006765_1912

Sb03g031690_2305

SNPs in PSTOL1 genes

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 12

Conclusions

• Large impact of P on sorghum growth

• General good adaptation of West African sorghum to low P soils

• Direct selection in low P necessary and feasible

• Landraces very valuable source germplasm

• No single mechanism identified for P-efficiency

• Al-tolerance and P-efficiency possibly controlled by same gene SbMATE pleiotropy

• PSTOL1 homologs of rice involved in P-adaptation in sorghum; similar mechanism

27.08.2014 PSP5 - 2014Breeding Sorghum for P-limited Soils in Western Africa: From Field to Gene Level 13

Thanks

CNRA- Bambey