Sorghum leaf blight phenotypes for two recombinant inbred line populations

Sorghum leaf blight and northern corn leaf blight, both caused by Exserohilum turcicum, are major diseases of sorghum and maize, respectively. Examining the genetic architecture of resistance in sorghum will lead to a better understanding of the relationship between resistance in sorghum and maize, which can ultimately enhance management options in both crops. In 2018 and 2019 we evaluated two sorghum recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations for resistance to E. turcicum. The BTx623 x IS3620C and BTx623 x SC155 populations consisted of 235 and 81 RILs, respectively. Resistance in both populations was moderately to highly heritable. We identified a total of six quantitative trait loci (QTL) across the two populations. Three QTL with small to moderate effect sizes were identified in the BTx623 x IS3620C population. Three QTL, including a large-effect QTL on chromosome three that explained 24% of the variation, were identified in the BTx623 x SC155 population. We compared the identified Q...