Myrans Harry, Chithrarachchige Dinithi, Henry Robert J, Norton Sally, Gleadow Roslyn M
School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Victoria Australia.
Institute of Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions The Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia.
Plant Environ Interact. 2025 Jun 6;6(3):e70065. doi: 10.1002/pei3.70065. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Endemic wild species are prevalent across northern Australia and could be useful for crop improvement; however, few studies have been done to quantify the phenotypic diversity of this tertiary gene pool. We aimed to assess the interactive effects of genotype and water availability in three wild species native to northern Australia and compare these to domesticated sorghum (). Two accessions of wild , , and , sourced from more and less arid regions, were grown alongside a line under well-watered or drought conditions for 4 weeks. We measured biomass, root:shoot ratio, chlorophyll : ratio, and concentrations of chlorophyll. The concentration of phenolics and cyanogenic glucosides were also measured to see if there were any differences in the concentration of specialized metabolites, as this is of particular importance for grazing. Low soil moisture ("drought") significantly impacted the biomass, root:shoot ratio, and chemical composition of , but the effects on the wild accessions were minimal and mostly not significant. This is potentially a consequence of their adaptation to harsh conditions in northern Australia. In each of the wild study species, genotype effects (i.e., between accessions) were greater than treatment effects, indicating intraspecific diversity. Wild is a potential source of novel traits that could be helpful in further enhancing the ability of to tolerate hot and dry conditions. Further research into traits conferring drought tolerance in without compromising yield is needed.
本地野生种在澳大利亚北部普遍存在，可能对作物改良有用；然而，很少有研究对这个第三基因库的表型多样性进行量化。我们旨在评估澳大利亚北部原产的三种野生种中基因型和水分可利用性的交互作用，并将其与驯化高粱（）进行比较。从干旱程度不同的地区获取的两个野生种、和的种质，与一个品系在水分充足或干旱条件下种植4周。我们测量了生物量、根冠比、叶绿素: 比值以及叶绿素浓度。还测量了酚类和氰基糖苷的浓度，以查看特殊代谢物浓度是否存在差异，因为这对放牧尤为重要。低土壤湿度（“干旱”）显著影响了的生物量、根冠比和化学成分，但对野生种质的影响最小且大多不显著。这可能是它们适应澳大利亚北部恶劣条件的结果。在每个野生研究物种中，基因型效应（即种质之间）大于处理效应，表明种内多样性。野生是新性状的潜在来源，可能有助于进一步提高高粱耐受炎热和干燥条件的能力。需要进一步研究高粱在不影响产量的情况下赋予耐旱性的性状。
