Abstract

Sorghum serves as a staple food for rural populations in Burkina Faso, but its cultivation faces limitations due to post-flowering drought stress. Consequently, there is a need for improvement to enhance resilience to moisture stress. The current investigation aims to identify drought-tolerant germplasm to enhance local susceptible elite varieties. One hundred and ten accessions, comprising improved and exotic materials, were evaluated under fully irrigated and terminal drought-stress conditions using an alpha lattice design. The accessions underwent PCR screening with 26 SSR markers to assess genetic diversity and identify alleles associated with stay-green traits. Seventeen local materials, including four improved varieties (Sariaso 04, ICSv 1049, Framida, and Sariaso 03), were identified as among the best genotypes with a high Stress Tolerance Index (STI). Except for the control (B35), twenty-nine top accessions, including one local variety (Ouedzoure), were recognized for their high spad value. Allelic diversity data indicated low genetic diversity (0.34) but identified important private alleles linked to stay-green quantitative traits loci (stg1 and stg4). These loci are situated in the genetic background of PSE146, PSE65, PSE69, PSE206, PSE226A and PSE288. Some local varieties have the potential to be utilized for production to mitigate the impact of drought in Burkina Faso and serve as valuable breeding material for developing new drought-tolerant varieties.

Key words: Local accessions, exotic, post-flowering, drought stress, tolerance, stay-green. 

Abbreviation

ICRISAT, International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics; INERA, Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research; FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization; QTL, Quantitative Trait Loci; PSE, prospection sorghum ecotype; STI, stress tolerance index; USA, United States of America.