Advancing Sorghum Improvement Through High-Throughput Phenotyping Technologies

Sorghum, a vital crop in arid regions, confronts the challenges of climate change, prompting the urgent development of resilient varieties to ensure sustained production, food security, and livelihoods. The slow progress of conventional breeding methods, coupled with the complexity of genotype-environment interactions, underscores the urgency for innovative approaches like phenomics. Front-line research is now directed towards enhancing sorghum as a climate-smart crop globally, with phenomics emerging as the future of phenotyping, presenting both opportunities and challenges in the pursuit of standardized, data-driven, and dynamically measured advancements for sustainable agriculture. Phenotyping is essential for crop improvement, but the digitalization gap in research hinders progress. Embracing advanced technologies in India is crucial for future agriculture. This chapter discusses diverse phenomics tools and sensors, illustrating successful cases and ongoing efforts to integrate technology into breeding programs for climate-smart crops at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), catering to the needs of semiarid tropics. ICRISAT employs advanced high-throughput phenotyping, exemplified by the high-throughput phenotyping (HTP)-LeasyScan facility and Lysimeter facility, to revolutionize sorghum breeding. The HTP-LeasyScan uses 3D laser scanning for rapid plant canopy assessment, aiding climate-smart approaches. The Lysimeter facility pioneers drought tolerance evaluation, bridging field and lab research. Innovative technologies like near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and computed tomography (CT) enhance sorghum quality traits, ensuring precise evaluations without grain damage. These strategies align with climate-smart breeding, promoting resilience in sorghum crops among changing environmental conditions.