Institut für Strategien und Folgenabschätzung
The overall goal of SorBOOM is to leverage recent breakthroughs in plant genomics, multi-level modeling and gene editing to advance breeding progress in grain sorghum as a measure to establish an alternative C4 crop for Germany with improved abiotic stress tolerance and altered seed quality traits while improving biodiversity. SorBOOM is based on the hypothesis that newly available high-quality genome sequences together with digital, non-destructive phenotyping approaches, coupled with the latest environmental and growth models as well as biostatistical methods, will pave the way for more efficient breeding of a previously rather neglected crop. The project will benefit from high-quality chromosome assemblies of over 70 parent lines from the JLU breeding program, created in previous activities in collaboration with partner JKI. These unique resources will be used in association studies to identify genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic determinants of agronomically relevant traits in unprecedented detail. Using sophisticated modelling techniques based on data from 200 test hybrids grown per year in seven production environments that contrast strongly in terms of climate and other environmental factors, we are tackling the major challenges of sorghum production in Germany. In Work Package 6 "Sorghum Growth Modelling", a plant growth model for sorghum in Germany will be parameterised and used to evaluate different G × M combinations in several potential sorghum growing regions, characterise environments (envirotyping) and generate optimal in silico genotypes (ideotypes) for optimal productivity as well as soil health and biodiversity.
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
