Environment Characterization in Sorghum ( L.) by Modeling Water-Deficit and Heat Patterns in the Great Plains Region, United States.

Environmental characterization for defining the target population of environments (TPE) is critical to improve the efficiency of breeding programs in crops, such as sorghum ( L.). The aim of this study was to characterize the spatial and temporal variation for a TPE for sorghum within the United States.

Disaggregating sorghum yield reductions under warming scenarios exposes narrow genetic diversity in US breeding programs.

Historical adaptation of sorghum production to arid and semiarid conditions has provided promise regarding its sustained productivity under future warming scenarios. Using Kansas field-trial sorghum data collected from 1985 to 2014 and spanning 408 hybrid cultivars, we show that sorghum productivity under increasing warming scenarios breaks down. Through extensive regression modeling, we identify a temperature threshold of 33 °C, beyond which yields start to decline.

Corroborative study on maize quality, dry-milling and wet-milling properties of selected maize hybrids.

A corroborative study was conducted on the maize quality properties of test weight, pycnometer density, tangential abrasive dehulling device (TADD), time-to-grind on the Stenvert hardness tester (SHT), 100-kernel weight, kernel size distribution, and proximate composition as well as maize dry- and wet-millability by six participating laboratories. Suggested operating procedures were given to compare their measurements and provide the variance structure within and between laboratories and hybrids. Partial correlation coefficient among maize quality properties varied among laboratories.