Starve to Sustain—An Ancient Syrian Landrace of Sorghum as Tool for Phosphorous Bio-Economy?

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient, playing a role in developmental and metabolic processes in plants. To understand the local and systemic responses of sorghum to inorganic phosphorus (Pi) starvation and the potential of straw and ash for reutilisation in agriculture, we compared two grain (Razinieh) and sweet (Della) sorghum varieties with respect to their morpho-physiological and molecular responses. We found that Pi starvation increased the elongation of primary roots, the formation of lateral roots, and the accumulation of anthocyanin. In Razinieh, lateral roots were promoted to a higher extent, correlated with a higher expression of SbPht1 phosphate transporters. Infrared spectra of straw from mature plants raised to maturity showed two prominent bands at 1371 and 2337 cm−1, which could be assigned to P-H(H2) stretching vibration in phosphine acid and phosphinothious acid, and their derivates, whose abundance correlated with phosphate uptake of the source plant and genotype (with a higher intensity in Razinieh). The ash generated from these straws stimulated the shoot elongation and root development of the rice seedlings, especially for the material derived from Razinieh raised under Pi starvation. In conclusion, sorghum growing on marginal lands has potential as a bio-economy alternative for mineral phosphorus recycling.

Biomass ash as a new potential rеsource of phosphorous for industry

“…On the other hand, α-tricalcium phosphate, β-tricalcium phosphate, tetracalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite are much less soluble to almost insoluble in water (Leng et al, 2021). For instance, apatite requires more acidic conditions (with pH<5.5) to be dissolved (Kanbar et al, 2021). Hence, the increased values of Ca/P molar ratio of phosphates decrease the solubility of these salts.…”

Toward bioeconomy of a multipurpose cereal: Cell wall chemistry of Sorghum is largely buffered against stem sugar content

“…Ramada is also a sweet sorghum variety that was selected from the progeny of the cross (“MER 45–45” × “MN 1056”) × (“MN 1054” × “MN1060”) made at Meridian (Mississippi, USA) in 1974 (Inman‐Bamber, 1980). The grain sorghum genotype Razinieh is a Syrian landrace, whose grain yield was improved by bulk breeding (Kanbar, Flubacher, et al, 2020; Kanbar, Flubacher, et al, 2021; Kanbar, Mirzai, et al, 2021). Ruzrok is a grain sorghum variety that was bred from a landrace collected by V. Holubec in the Bílé Karpaty region in Moravia, Czech Republic (Hermuth & Kosova, 2017).…”

Gain time to adapt: How sorghum acquires tolerance to salinity

“…These traditional uses have been complemented recently by a progressive role of sorghum for bioeconomy. As a C 4 plant, sorghum can minimise resource losses due to photorespiration, and consequently grows extremely rapidly, linked with an intense mass translocation of sucrose from the leaves into the stem ( Bihmidine et al., 2015 ; Kanbar et al., 2021a ). Therefore, among cereal crops, sorghum is considered as one of the plants with the greatest potential to produce bioethanol ( Irving, 2015 ).…”