OAR@ICRISATMolecular Breeding for Striga Resistance in SorghumS PDeshpandeauthorAMohamedauthorC THashauthorAmong the biotic stresses affecting dryland cereals, especially sorghum, Striga hermonthica is the most damaging obligate parasite, and is an important bottleneck to yield increases by smallholder farmers, yet it has been neglected by research in recent years. Integrated Striga management packages have been designed, but these will continue to require new cultural and chemical treatments, resistant varieties, and integrated approaches to manage both Striga and soil fertility. This review attempts to assess recent advances in bioassay development that are specific to resistance mechanisms, genomics such as New Generation Sequencing tools, RNA interference (RNAi) technologies in advancing knowledge of resistance and susceptibility to Striga including diversity in striga populations, and molecular marker technology in accelerating the development of Smga-resistant cultivars of sorghum. Recent advances in developing effective bioassays involving several modifications of rhizotrons and sand-packed titer plate assay will help dissect resistance mechanisms into component traits and increased understanding of the specific resistance mechanisms, which will directly help in efficient introgression and selection of several striga resistance mechanisms in breeding population. The current studies for identification of parasite genes specifically involved in haustorigenesis through transcriptomic and/or prote'omic studies and more recently RNAseq studies will help understand susceptibility or resistance genes in striga. Release of improved version of cultivars resistant to striga developed by marker-assisted backcrossing of several striga resistance QTLs in Sudan had shown the power of integrating genomics and molecular breeding tools/techniques into routine breeding for tackling the complex constraint such as striga. Application and utilization of advance techniques in genomics and molecular breeding appropriately can further enhance the efficiency of integrated striga management practices, and thus crop productivity.Sorghum2013Wiley BlackwellBook Section

For work being deposited by its own author: In self-archiving this collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata, I grant OAR@ICRISAT the right to store them and to make them permanently available publicly for free on-line. I declare that this material is my own intellectual property and I understand that OAR@ICRISAT does not assume any responsibility if there is any breach of copyright in distributing these files or metadata. (All authors are urged to prominently assert their copyright on the title page of their work.)

For work being deposited by someone other than its author: I hereby declare that the collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata that I am archiving at OAR@ICRISAT) is in the public domain. If this is not the case, I accept full responsibility for any breach of copyright that distributing these files or metadata may entail.

Clicking on the deposit button indicates your agreement to these terms.