Growth and Fitness Components of Wild Cultivated Sorghum Bicolor (Poaceae) Hybrids

in Nebraska
Introduction
In plants, a hybrid is when two different plants combine and make offspring. These plants
can be closely related; such as a granny smith and gala apple trees; or be distantly related; such
as a gala apple tree and a lilac bush. As long as the different plants can produce offspring with
each other, they can create hybrids.
Why would we want to know if there are hybrids and what does it mean to us as humans?
We can use the information in our agricultural fields. One common thing that many farmers look
at when they grow their rows of crops is the amount of weeds that will grow in them. When the
weeds grow and become a nuisance, farmers cut them down or kill them. But one thing that isnt
looked at as much is what percent of the weeds and crops will combine their genes and grow into
one plant which will make hybrids. In other words, how much of the crop is weed or how much
weed is crop? Also, are these hybrids able to produce more hybrids or will they be sterile?
A study in the October 2010 issue of the American Journal of Botany was conducted to
find the results of growing shattercane and sorghum (weedy plants that populates a large number
of the environment in the U.S.) to determine the hybridization percentage between the two and to
find the seedling mortality of the hybrids compared to the parents.
The scientists chose this subject because of the importance it has on the overall global
interest. Understanding the crop to wild hybridization will help us to understand any risks that
will come from interbreeding. We could have crops that are giving herbicide/insect resistant traits
to the wild and effecting the growth of animals/insects. This could also help in predicting the

affects we can have as farmers/consumers. We will know what percent of the plant foods we
buy are the actual crop and the percent that is the wild plant.
Materials and Methods
They started by breeding the shattercane and sorghum in separate greenhouses for six
generations to ensure purity. They then began a laboratory germination experiment in which they
took 25 seeds of each plant (shattercane and sorghum), evenly placed them in a petri dish, and
then placed them in a temperature controlled incubator.
They then tested the growth at different temperatures to have both accelerated and regular
growth in each plant for testing. Finally, they took 25 seeds from the grown hybrids in each of
the temperature treatments, cut them in half and dyed them in tetrazolium chloride solution.
Seeds that changed color were considered viable; seeds that didnt change color was considered
dead/sterile.
Next, they took the seeds of the hybrids and parents and put them into separate outdoor
fields. They planted some in fields with growing corn and others in empty fields with just the
seeds. They measured how large the corn, parent shattercane, parent sorghum, and hybrids grew
by weight, height, leaf size, and volume. They also measured the distance the weedy plants
(parent shattercane, parent sorghum, and hybrids) grew. They then removed the mature plants
and collected the seeds, while leaving the immature plants to continue growing and spreading.
Results
Laboratory germination results were interesting from growing the hybrids in lab
incubators at different temperatures. Germination results of the first generation hybrids at 20C

were the same as shattercane parents at approximately 73% germination. The sorghum parents
germination was much higher at approximately 87%.
In 30C - 35C the first generation hybrid seed germination was approximately 80%,
shattercane germination was approximately 91%, and sorghum was approximately 72%. The
scientist pointed out that the first generation hybrid had a dominant allele for higher temperatures
from shattercane rather than the allele for lower temperatures from sorghum.
Next is the findings of field emergence and seedling mortality in the three plants. First,
the seed emergence in sorghum was approximately 64%, emergence in shattercane was
approximately 88%, and the emergence in the first generation hybrid was approximately 86%.
The seedling mortality of the sorghum was approximately 2.7%, mortality of shattercane was
approximately 1.1%, and the mortality of the first generation hybrid was approximately 0.3%.
Finally, they measured the physical results in the plants. The overall height of the first
generation hybrid was averaging at 266.5 cm, the shattercane averaged at 235.5, and the sorghum
averaged at 111 cm. The first generation hybrid also out ran the shattercane and sorghum at a
larger leaf growth/index area, as well as a larger seed mass index and aboveground biomass.
Discussion
The main results of the possibility of growing hybrids was quite interesting. They showed
the probabilities of creating hybrids among the shattercane and sorghum plants is most certainly
possible. The article stated, Our results indicate that both shattercane and F1 hybrids are taller
than cultivated sorghum throughout the reproductive period of growth and that the hybrid
expressed heterosis and was even taller than shattercane toward the end of seed fill. (Sahoo et
al.)

This experiment also had several limitations in the study. They were short on time based
on seasonal change after planting the specific weeds in the field that they werent able to keep
them in the fields to make more than one generation of the hybrid. They also werent able to
accurately show the percentage of the corn to weed hybrid for the same reason of the seasonal
change. They also didnt have a control group for the corn to make accurate conclusions. And
finally, they didnt study plants of origin other than weeds to make a conclusion of hybrids. We
cant take this and apply it to every plant, there is still testing that needs to be completed in order
to make accurate decisions on plants in different families (other than weeds) to predict the
percentage of hybridization.

Bibliography
Sahoo, Lilyrani, Jared J. Schmidt, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, Donald J. Lee, John L. Lindquist.
Growth and Fitness Components of Wild Cultivated Sorghum Bicolor (Poaceae) Hybrids in
Nebraska. American Journal of Botany 97 (2010) : 1610-1617. Web. 30 January, 2016.