G2MARS a collaborative approach to improve fodder quality of European sorghum germplasm

The ability of sorghum to maintain a high level of biomass production in stressful environments makes it an interesting crop for animal feed as fodder, and for biomaterials and bioenergy production. Sorghum hybrids with improved agronomical behavior and high biomass quality are being developed for the European market. However the development of such hybrids requires a lot of field testing and biomass analyses. The current marker assisted breeding strategies offer the possibilities to better understand the genetic architecture of biomass quality and accelerate the creation of improved varieties. The G2MARS design developed in the frame of the “Biomass For the Future” project is gathering the know-how of both private companies and publics institutes to deliver new genetic marker and improved germplasm for the European biomass market. Seven biparental connected populations were developed in both genetic pools (3 in the male, 3 in the female and one male-female populations). These populations involved elite commercial cultivars and high biomass quality sorghum landraces. A total of 964 hybrids from these 7 populations were characterized in 2016 and 2017 in 2 locations. Agronomical traits and biomass quality related traits were measured. A QTL detection taking advantage of the connected design was performed with MCQTL and allowed the detection of 17 and 6 QTL respectively in the male and female pools. For each QTL the parental alleles were ranked allowing to define 2 target molecular ideotypes. The crossing strategy aiming to combine the most efficiently the favorable alleles was defined using Optimas. The G2MARS project offered the opportunity to take advantage of the specific skills of both private and public partners and develop a joint breeding action do develop hybrids suitable to fit the expectations of the biomass value chains. IN addition, this design improved the understanding of the genetic architecture of biomass quality traits that was mobilized to optimize the recombination strategy. This work was supported by the Biomass For the Future project (ANR-11-BTBR-0006-BFF) funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR)

Combining abilities and heterosis for biomass yield and quality related traits in single-cut forage sorghum adapted to temperate climates

Sorghum is among the most important cereals in the world in terms of human and animal nutrition and contributes to several bio-based value chains, including bioenergy production. The development of varieties fitting the expectations of these different end-products requires a better understanding of the genetic determinism of the traits contributing to the targeted ideotypes. In this context, the objectives of this study were to estimate the general and specific combining abilities of biomass quality and production related traits, explore their correlations and assess the heterosis levels achieved. To reach, these goals a factorial design based on 10 female and 16 male parents that were selected for their General Combining Abilities (GCA) for biomass production has been developed. One hundred and forty seven hybrids were evaluated on 3 sites together with their parental lines in 2014. Heritability of 0.69, 0.79 and 0.90 were observed respectively for the dry matter yield, lodging at maturity and biomass digestibility. Correlations' analysis between hybrid genetic values and combing ability components showed that hybrid performance is mainly correlated with the male parents GCA and depends only weakly of the female GCA. Higher best parent relative heterosis (up to 49%) was observed for biomass yield compared to biomass digestibility (up to 9%) and a negative genetic correlation (-0.54 for the blup values and -0.6 for the GCA values) was observed between biomass yield and digestibility in the factorial design. The best hybrids were selected and evaluated on 4 and 3 sites respectively in 2015 and 2016. In addition to allow the identification of elite parental lines that will be used in future crosses, this study underlined the negative correlations between biomass production and quality that will need to be tackled and the lack of strategies to accurately predict heterosis in single cut forage sorghum

A sorghum biomass quality genetic atlas: integrating GWAS, multiparental designs (BCNAM and connected biparental populations) and transcriptome analyses to optimize breeding efficiency for different biomass uses

The Andropogonae tribe hosts some of the most efficient plant biomass accumulators on earth (sugarcane, switchgrass, miscanthus...). Among these, sorghum is a relevant candidate to support biomass value chain development for energy, biomaterials and innovative biorefinery approaches. Sorghum exhibits a large genetic variability for biomass composition providing the opportunities to support the development of different value chains. However, the access to fine-tuned varieties fitting the expectations of the various end-products is currently hampered by a limited understanding of the genetic architecture of the biomass and cell wall quality related traits. To tackle these limitations, an atlas of genomic regions that control the composition and properties of the vegetative biomass is under development. To fulfil this objective, we are integrating the results from i) GWAS analyses from three complementary broad based panels (i.e. worldwide collection (400 accessions), photoperiod sensitive (220) and photoperiod-insensitive (175) panels), ii) two Backcross Nested Association Mapping population (the first corresponding to 29 donor and 2 recurrent parents for a total of 1300 BC1F4 progenies and the second corresponding to 10 donors and 2 recurrent parents for a total of 2000 BC1F5) and iii) several connected biparental populations. All these populations were characterized either for their whole aboveground biomass composition or specifically for their stem composition using Van Soest methods. In addition, in vitro organic matter digestibility and cell wall digestibility were obtained using the Aufrere methods. Projection of the genomic regions identified on the different populations on the sorghum reference genome allowed to restrict the set of candidate genes. Meanwhile, dynamics of gene expression and biomass components accumulation patterns were analyzed on three contrasting genotypes to refine this list in combination with a comparative genomic approach taking advantage of the grass genomes homologies and gene functional validation from various species. The relevance of our results to develop sorghum varieties adapted to the different biomass uses and, at a larger phylogenetic scale, to accelerate breeding across the Andropogonae tribe will be illustrated (highlighting among others parental line and hybrid selection schemes that have been developed) and discussed

From the territories to the genes: Developing sustainable multi-purpose sorghum value chains

To face global warming and fossil fuel depletion crisis, plant biomass will provide a renewable source of energy, materials and chemicals. Accordingly, agriculture will have to adapt not only to avoid competition between food-feed and non-food non-feed uses but also to ensure the economical and environmental sustainability of these productions. In this context, we are developing an integrative strategy merging genetics, breeding, material sciences, energy production, animal nutrition and socio economic analyses to accelerate the development of multipurpose sorghum value chains for both Mediterranean and tropical semi-arid conditions (West Africa). As a first step, new products (biocomposites) and uses (biomethane production) are being developed. Then the plant traits impacting the production and quality of the different end-products and uses are being identified taking advantage of the genetic diversity of sorghum. As a third step, the set-up of these key traits in the plant is being analyzed in order to describe their patterns of development / accumulation, their susceptibility to environmental constraints and provide some insights regarding their molecular determinism. Taking advantage of these functional information, the genomic regions impacting the key traits are being deciphered and used to develop new breeding tools and breeding strategies. In parallel, to maximize the probability to convert scientific results in local impacts, the different stakeholders of the value chains are being mobilized and territorial analyses aiming to assess the relevance of the different value chains are performed

Digestibility of five sorghum varieties selected for crude protein content in broilers

International audienceThe European poultry feed industry faces challenges linked to climate change or shifting economic situation. Sorghum, a drought-tolerant crop, represents a promising alternative to maize in poultry diets. However, grain quality traits, such as protein content and digestibility, are not yet prioritised in selection programs. This study assessed the digestibility of five sorghum varieties selected for their crude protein (CP) and tannin contents.A total of 102 Ross 308 male broilers were housed in individual cages at D22 and assigned to one the six experimental diets. The first diet was a control one (C). The five others were composed of 75% C and 25% of one of the five tested sorghum varieties with four tannin-free CIRAD01 (12.1% CP), MACIA (11.4% CP), TX623 (10.7% CP), ISN60C (9.5% CP), or SC59 (10.7% CP; tannin-containing). Diets included 2% celite as an indigestible marker. Individual faeces were collected to evaluate the total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N, corrected or not for uric acid excretion). After this period, birds were sacrificed to collect ileal content and evaluate the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of amino acids (AA). Data were analysed using a one-way ANOVA.The TTAD of DM and N, differed significantly among varieties (p=0.002 and 0.001, respectively). The ISN60C variety showed the highest digestibility of DM and N (86.5% and 80.2%, respectively), while the SC59 one had the lowest N digestibility (66%). However, this effect of varieties is lost when N is correted (p=0.66). In SC59, the AID of five AA was also found to be significantly lower, including cysteine (77.7%; p=0.002) and arginine (87.1%; p=0.01), most likely in relation with the presence of tannins. ISN60C and MACIA showed the highest digestibility coefficients. This may be attributed to differences in the composition in kafirins , known to affect protein digestibility and other grain storage proteins. Certain sorghum varieties could indeed possess particular protein composition that mitigate this negative effect of kafirins, a hypothesis currently under investigation.Further analyses, including metabolisable energy evaluation, are also underway to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the nutritional characteristics of these sorghum varieties

Combining abilities and heterosis for biomass yield and quality related traits in single-cut forage sorghum adapted to temperate climates

Source Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/609328/)International audienceSorghum is among the most important cereals in the world in terms of human and animal nutrition and contributes to several bio-based value chains, including bioenergy production. The development of varieties fitting the expectations of these different end-products requires a better understanding of the genetic determinism of the traits contributing to the targeted ideotypes. In this context, the objectives of this study were to estimate the general and specific combining abilities of biomass quality and production related traits, explore their correlations and assess the heterosis levels achieved. To reach, these goals a factorial design based on 10 female and 16 male parents that were selected for their General Combining Abilities (GCA) for biomass production has been developed. One hundred and forty seven hybrids were evaluated on 3 sites together with their parental lines in 2014. Heritability of 0.69, 0.79 and 0.90 were observed respectively for the dry matter yield, lodging at maturity and biomass digestibility. Correlations' analysis between hybrid genetic values and combing ability components showed that hybrid performance is mainly correlated with the male parents GCA and depends only weakly of the female GCA. Higher best parent relative heterosis (up to 49%) was observed for biomass yield compared to biomass digestibility (up to 9%) and a negative genetic correlation (-0.54 for the blup values and -0.6 for the GCA values) was observed between biomass yield and digestibility in the factorial design. The best hybrids were selected and evaluated on 4 and 3 sites respectively in 2015 and 2016. In addition to allow the identification of elite parental lines that will be used in future crosses, this study underlined the negative correlations between biomass production and quality that will need to be tackled and the lack of strategies to accurately predict heterosis in single cut forage sorghum

Assessment of rewarming methods in unplanned out-of-hospital births from a prospective cohort

Abstract Background Mobile intensive care units frequently manage unplanned out-of-hospital births (UOHB). Rewarming methods during pre-hospital management of UOHB have not yet been compared. The aim was to compare rewarming methods used during pre-hospital management in a large prospective cohort of UOHB in France. Methods We analysed UOHB from the prospective AIE cohort from 25 prehospital emergency medical services in France. The primary outcome was the change in body temperature from arrival at scene to arrival at hospital. Results From 2011 to 2018, 1854 UOHB were recorded, of whom 520 were analysed. We found that using incubator care was the most effective rewarming method (+ 0.8 °C during transport), followed by the combination of plastic bag, skin-to-skin and cap (+ 0.2 °C). The associations plastic bag + cap and skin-to-skin + cap did not allow the newborn to be warmed up but rather to maintain initial temperature (+ 0.0 °C). The results of the multivariate model were consistent with these observations, with better rewarming with the use of an incubator. We also identified circumstances of increased risk of hypothermia according to classification and regression tree, like premature birth (&lt; 37 weeks of gestation) and/or low outside temperature (&lt; 8.4 °C). Conclusions Using an incubator was the most effective rewarming method during pre-hospital management of UOHB in our French prospective cohort. Based on our model, in cases of term less than 37 weeks of gestation or between 37 and 40 weeks with a low outside temperature or initial hypothermia, using such a method would be preferred. </jats:sec

Pancreatic surgery outcomes: multicentre prospective snapshot study in 67 countries

Background: Pancreatic surgery remains associated with high morbidity rates. Although postoperative mortality appears to have improved with specialization, the outcomes reported in the literature reflect the activity of highly specialized centres. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following pancreatic surgery worldwide. Methods: This was an international, prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional snapshot study of consecutive patients undergoing pancreatic operations worldwide in a 3-month interval in 2021. The primary outcome was postoperative mortality within 90 days of surgery. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore relationships with Human Development Index (HDI) and other parameters. Results: A total of 4223 patients from 67 countries were analysed. A complication of any severity was detected in 68.7 per cent of patients (2901 of 4223). Major complication rates (Clavien–Dindo grade at least IIIa) were 24, 18, and 27 per cent, and mortality rates were 10, 5, and 5 per cent in low-to-middle-, high-, and very high-HDI countries respectively. The 90-day postoperative mortality rate was 5.4 per cent (229 of 4223) overall, but was significantly higher in the low-to-middle-HDI group (adjusted OR 2.88, 95 per cent c.i. 1.80 to 4.48). The overall failure-to-rescue rate was 21 per cent; however, it was 41 per cent in low-to-middle- compared with 19 per cent in very high-HDI countries. Conclusion: Excess mortality in low-to-middle-HDI countries could be attributable to failure to rescue of patients from severe complications. The authors call for a collaborative response from international and regional associations of pancreatic surgeons to address management related to death from postoperative complications to tackle the global disparities in the outcomes of pancreatic surgery (NCT04652271; ISRCTN95140761)

Pancreatic surgery outcomes: multicentre prospective snapshot study in 67 countries

Background: Pancreatic surgery remains associated with high morbidity rates. Although postoperative mortality appears to have improved with specialization, the outcomes reported in the literature reflect the activity of highly specialized centres. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following pancreatic surgery worldwide.Methods: This was an international, prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional snapshot study of consecutive patients undergoing pancreatic operations worldwide in a 3-month interval in 2021. The primary outcome was postoperative mortality within 90 days of surgery. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore relationships with Human Development Index (HDI) and other parameters.Results: A total of 4223 patients from 67 countries were analysed. A complication of any severity was detected in 68.7 percent of patients (2901 of 4223). Major complication rates (Clavien-Dindo grade at least IIIa) were 24, 18, and 27 percent, and mortality rates were 10, 5, and 5 per cent in low-to-middle-, high-, and very high-HDI countries respectively. The 90-day postoperative mortality rate was 5.4 per cent (229 of 4223) overall, but was significantly higher in the low-to-middle-HDI group (adjusted OR 2.88, 95 per cent c.i. 1.80 to 4.48). The overall failure-to-rescue rate was 21 percent; however, it was 41 per cent in low-to-middle-compared with 19 per cent in very high-HDI countries.Conclusion: Excess mortality in low-to-middle-HDI countries could be attributable to failure to rescue of patients from severe complications. The authors call for a collaborative response from international and regional associations of pancreatic surgeons to address management related to death from postoperative complications to tackle the global disparities in the outcomes of pancreatic surgery (NCT04652271; ISRCTN95140761)