Date Time
Early breeding reduced harmful mutations in sorghum
When humans first domesticated maize some 9,000 years ago, those early breeding efforts led to an increase in harmful mutations to the crop’s genome compared to their wild relatives, which more recent modern breeding has helped to correct. Nadia Shakoor/Provided
The image shows variation in flower head architecture of the different sorghum races, including (from left to right) bicolor, guinea, caudatum, kafir and durra.
A new comparative study investigates whether the same patterns found in maize occurred in sorghum, a gluten-free grain grown for both livestock and human consumption. The researchers were surprised to find the opposite is true: Harmful mutations in sorghum landraces (early domesticated crops) actually decreased compared to their wild relatives.
High hopes for New York-developed malting barley
EMPIRE MALTING BARLEY: Malting barley variety trials are seen, including varieties developed by the lab of Mark Sorrells, at one of the university’s test plots in Batavia, N.Y. Sorrells is one of the lead researchers for CU-31. CU-31, a spring malting barley, was developed in four years and will be grown for commercial seed in 2021.
Francis Domoy has grown what’s considered to be New York’s first climate-adapted grain. But it’s not corn or soybeans. It’s malting barley.
“The variety has demonstrated great uniformity, plump kernels, stiffness and large head size,” says Domoy, who grew the variety CU-31 in his Rochester fields this year for seed.