Validation of foreground microsatellite markers for introgression of shootfly (Atherigona soccata) resistant QTLs into elite sorghum varieties

Sorghum is an important cereal and fodder crop which plays pivotal role in human nutrition. Important challenge that threatens the long term production of sorghum is shootfly. Shootfly is the major limiting factor in sorghum as it effects both production and productivity. Leaf glossiness, trichomes on the leaf surface, Ovipositional non-preference and seedling vigor are the major component traits governing shootfly resistance in sorghum. The quantitative trait loci's (QTLs) responsible for these traits are present on chromosome number SBI 01, SBI 05, SBI 07 and SBI 10 respectively. So, to provide ready to use markers for foreground selection in marker assisted breeding for sorghum we have used 20 recurrent parents and 9 donor parents for shootfly resistance. These simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are validated for introgressing the QTL's into elite postrainy sorghum cultivars. The results reveal, out of 58 SSR markers, 33 markers showed distinct polymorphism among the donor and recurrent parents. For each QTL minimum of five markers from the QTL flanking region were polymorphic for all the parents and are used for foreground selection for the presence of QTLs