A Large-Scale Candidate-Gene Association Mapping for Drought Tolerance and Agronomic Traits in Sugarcane

Dissection of the genetic loci controlling drought tolerance traits with a complex inheritance is important for drought-tolerant sugarcane improvement. In this study, we conducted large-scale candidate gene association study 649 genes in diversity panel to identify variants underlying agronomic and indices evaluated plant cane ratoon under water-stressed (WS) non-stressed (NS) environments. We identified 197 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) 141 associated 18 Bonferroni correction threshold (α = 0.05). Out total, 95 MTAs 78 62 58 were detected NS WS conditions, respectively. Most found only specific water regimes crop seasons. These explained 7.93–30.52% phenotypic variation. Association mapping results revealed that 34, 59, 104 involved physiological molecular adaptation, phytohormone metabolism, drought-inducible genes. They 19 pleiotropic more than one trait many related indices. The genomic resources will enable combining yield-related sugar-related value optimize yield cultivars grown drought-stressed