Investment

Sorghum production in Australia averages 2,000,000 tonnes annually with a value of between $400M to $500M. It is the largest summer crop in Australia and our fourth largest crop overall, by tonnage and value. One of the most significant constraints to sorghum production is lodging. Lodging is consistently rated as the most important issue across all stakeholder groups. Lodging related yield losses are significant and for the period 2014 - 2019, direct yield losses due to lodging averaged 3.5 per cent pa with a value of $12 million. While this does not occur in every location every year, it has occurred in at least one major sub-region every year from 2014 - 2019. In addition to direct yield losses, the annual rate of genetic gain in sorghum is also reduced, as breeding for higher yielding sorghum hybrids is almost always associated with an increased risk of lodging.

This investment aims to decouple the relationship between height, yield and lodging to increase the water limited yield potential of sorghum. The project seeks to reduce annual sorghum lodging related yield loss by 25 per cent, by providing sorghum breeders with tools and germplasm to produce new sorghum hybrids with increased water limited yield potential and a decreased incidence of lodging. GRDC are co-investing with the global commercial breeding company Advanta Seeds as well as long-term partners University of Queensland (UQ) and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).

The investment has three focus areas:

1. Establishing consistent, robust and replicable methods to induce lodging in sorghum - this will be the first time this has been done in Australia. Utilise this method to identify the physical and chemical components of stem strength.
2. Assessing diverse sorghum populations to identify the key genes and genetic locations associated with reduced propensity to lodge.
3. Using the knowledge gained from the first two focus areas to develop advanced genomic breeding tools to enable breeders to develop high yielding hybrids quickly and efficiently with a reduced propensity to lodge.