Biotechnology: Genetic improvement of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)

This report reviews the contributions, to the improvement of sorghum (Sorgh um bicolor (L.) Moench) through traditional approaches with emphasis on the application of biotechnological methods. Strategies include breeding for h igher yield, improved gain quality, and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance . Hybrid development and polyploidy breeding are also discussed. Plant bree ders, working in concert with biotechnologists, have developed new powerful tools for plant genetic manipulation and genotype evaluation that will sig nificantly improve the efficiency of plant breeding. Improving sorghum thro ugh biotechnology is the latest in a long series of technologies that have been applied to this crop. Five basic tools of technology have been develop ed for sorghum improvement: (1) in vitro protocols for efficient plant rege neration; (2) molecular markets, (3) gene identification and cloning; (4) g enetic engineering and gene transfer technology to integrate desirable trai ts into the sorghum genome; and (5), genomics and germplasm databases. Repo rts on studies involving the. problems, progress, and prospects for utilizi ng the biotechnological methods for sorghum improvement are discussed.