Response to anthracnose infection for a random selection of sorghum germplasm

Abstract

A subset of 97 accessions was randomly selected from the sorghum collection maintained by the US National Plant Germplasm System and evaluated for anthracnose disease response in Isabela, Puerto Rico during the 2004 wet growing season. Two evaluations were conducted and climatic conditions varied between evaluations. The amount of rainfall was similar between evaluations; however, the lower temperatures during the second evaluation appeared more favorable for disease expression. Thirty accessions conferred a resistant disease response for the two evaluations. Sorghum germplasm from 28 countries were evaluated for anthracnose disease response and resistance accessions were observed for collections from 14 countries. Results indicate that germplasm from Ethiopia and Mali could be an important source of anthracnose resistance. The germplasm collections from Benin, Burundi, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa and Uganda could also be useful for the identification of anthracnose resistance and could contribute to the genetic diversity for disease resistance to enhance sorghum improvement. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.