New adaptive peaks for crops – an example from improvement of drought-resilience of sorghum in Ethiopia

Societal Impact Statement In Ethiopia, agriculture is the largest economic sector and contributes 48% of the nation’s GDP, and sorghum provides more than one third of the cereal diet and is widely grown for food, feed, brewing, and construction purposes. With a worldwide water crisis looming, developing drought tolerant sorghum is vital in rain-fed environments, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Addressing such issues often requires a far-reaching approach to identify and incorporate new traits into a gene pool, followed by a period of selection to re-establish an overall adaptive phenotype. This study revealed that with the enormous altitudinal variation of a country such as Ethiopia, somewhat different lines may be needed for different locales. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.