Cytoplasm Has No Effect on the Yield and Quality of Biomass Sorghum Hybrids

The development of the biomass sorghum hybrid seed industry is contingent on the use of cytoplasmic male sterility. Within sorghum, there are several different cytoplasmic male sterility systems and it is important to determine early in development if cytoplasm will affect agronomic performance or composition characters. Thus, if there is a difference, then the best system can be deployed. The purpose of this study was to determine if cytoplasm per se influences agronomic performance of biomass sorghum using a set of iso-cytoplasmic hybrids. Three hybrid genotypes were produced in three different cytoplasms (A1, A2, and A3) for a total of nine hybrids. These hybrids were evaluated for plant height, biomass yield, and biomass composition in three Texas environments (Weslaco, College Station, and Halfway) in 2010. Across environments, significant differences existed among hybrids for both agronomic and compositional traits, but cytoplasm per se had no effect on any measured trait. Since cytoplasm did not effect on hybrid performance, any of the tested cytoplasms (A1, A2, and A3) can be deployed in hybrid biomass sorghums.