Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] breeding enrichment potential through genetic comparison of Hungarian and East African lines

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] plays a crucial role as a primary cereal in arid tropical regions, holding global importance for food security and sustainable agriculture. Its cultivation has been steadily increasing in Hungary and various European countries over the past decade. The objective of this investigation was to enhance a Hungarian breeding program at Cereal Research Company, Szeged, by comparing breeding lines from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT-Nairobi) gene bank with those from Hungary. The outcomes of the analysis, which utilized SSR markers to assess 31 genotypes, including 15 from ICRISAT-Nairobi, could potentially contribute to the enhancement of agronomic traits and the development of genetic resistance against various biotic and abiotic stresses. ICRISAT’s extensive collection of accessions, when correlated with Hungarian breeding lines, could guide the selection of diverse parental combinations for segregating progenies. The study classified the genotypes at a 16% similarity threshold into two main clusters, with both Hungarian and East African genotypes present in two clusters. The overall observed heterozygosity (Ho) in all loci were low when compared with expected heterozygosity (He), suggesting that the alleles were highly homogeneous and even, mainly due to the hybrid nature of the materials under trial. The relatively low (0.421) average polymorphic information content (PIC) of the markers led to the genotypes under trial not being completely distinguished. The low similarity value may imply a substantial level of genetic diversity among the genotypes from the two gene pools. This study established, based on the similarity value that the germplasm under trial from the two regions had substantial level of diversity.