The long-range goal of my sorghum improvement program is to enhance the productivity and profitability of grain, forage and bioenergy sorghum production systems. The sorghum breeding program is used as a mechanism to develop and release sorghum germplasm to meet this goal. In addition to the release of improved sorghum genotypes, research in the program emphasizes the genetic and molecular genetic inheritance of disease resistance, grain quality and agronomic productivity and adaptability. The research provides opportunities for graduate student training in fundamental and applied aspects of plant improvement. Specific research interests include the development of sorghum germplasm for bioenergy (both sweet and biomass), grain and forage Instruct SCSC 642 annually each fall semester.
- Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Minnesota - (Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States) 1992
Academic Articles177
- Fonseca, J., Klein, P. E., Crossa, J., Pacheco, A., Perez‐Rodriguez, P., Ramasamy, P., Klein, R., & Rooney, W. L. (2021). Assessing combining abilities, genomic data, and genotype × environment interactions to predict hybrid grain sorghum performance. The Plant Genome. 14(3), e20127.
- Fonseca, J., Perumal, R., Klein, P. E., Klein, R. R., & Rooney, W. L. (2021). Combining abilities and elite germplasm enhancement across U.S. public sorghum breeding programs. Crop Science. 61(6), 4098-4111.
- Peiris, K., Wu, X., Bean, S. R., Perez-Fajardo, M., Hayes, C., Yerka, M. K., ... Bean, B. (2021). Near Infrared Spectroscopic Evaluation of Starch Properties of Diverse Sorghum Populations. Processes. 9(11), 1942-1942.
- Kyanam, A. N., Hodnett, G. L., & Rooney, W. L. (2021). Analysis of effects of trifluoromethanesulfonamide in sorghum inbred lines and their derived hybrids. Crop Science. 61(5), 3507-3515.
- Kent, M. A., & Rooney, W. L. (2021). Registration of Tx3483 through Tx3488 sorghum germplasm with waxy endosperm. Journal of Plant Registrations. 15(3), 606-611.
Books1
Chapters5
- Rooney, W. L. (2016). Sorghum: Production and Improvement Practices. Encyclopedia of Food Grains. 201-206. Elsevier.
- Serna-Saldivar, S. O., & Rooney, W. L. (2014). Sustainable Bioenergy Production. Wang, L. (Eds.), Sustainable Bioenergy Production. 193-212. CRC Press.
- Stefaniak, T. R., & Rooney, W. L. (2013). Breeding Sorghum as a Bioenergy Crop. Bioenergy Feedstocks. 83-116. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
- Bransby, D. I., Allen, D. J., Gutterson, N., Ikonen, G., Richard, E., Rooney, W., & van Santen, E. (2010). Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Grass Energy Crops. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry. Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and Co-products. 125-154. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Conference Papers17
- Fix, A., Patil, B. S., Leskovar, D. I., Rooney, W. L., Smith, W., & Crosby, K. (2019). Mission Melon: Improving Qualitative Traits in Cucumis Melo Using Phenomics. HORTSCIENCE. 54(9), S189-S190.
- Fix, A., Patil, B. S., Leskovar, D. I., Rooney, W. L., Smith, W., & Crosby, K. (2019). Mission Melon: Improving Qualitative Traits in Cucumis Melo Using Phenomics. HORTSCIENCE. 54(9), S189-S190.
- Han, X., Thomasson, J. A., Bagnall, C., Rooney, W. L., Pugh, N. A., Horne, D. W., ... Cope, D. A. (2018). Calibrated plant height estimates with structure from motion from fixed-wing UAV images. Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III, Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III. 10664, 106640d.
- Chi, N., Crosby, K., & Rooney, W. L. (2017). Heritability Estimates and Gene Effects for Heat-tolerance Traits in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). HORTSCIENCE. 52(9), S410-S410.
- Shi, Y., Murray, S. C., Rooney, W. L., Valasek, J., Olsenholler, J., Pugh, N. A., ... Thomasson, J. A. (2016). Corn and sorghum phenotyping using a fixed-wing UAV-based remote sensing system. SPIE Proceedings, SPIE Commercial + Scientific Sensing and Imaging. 9866, 98660e-98660e-8.
Patents6
- Mullet, J., & Rooney, W. (2016). Method for production of sorghum hybrids with selected flowering times.
- Rooney, W., Hodnett, G., Kuhlman, L., Stelly, D., & Price, H. (2013). Intergeneric hybrid plants and methods for production thereof.
Principal Investigator3
- Automated TERRA Phenotyping System for Genetic Improvement of Energy Crops awarded by Department of Energy 2015 - 2018
Co-Principal Investigator5
- Genomics of Energy Sorghum’s Water Use Efficiency/Drought Resilience awarded by DOE-Office Of Science 2014 - 2018
Investigator2
- BICH491 Hnr-research Instructor
- BICH491 Research Instructor
- GENE491 Hnr-research Instructor
- GENE491 Research Instructor
- MEPS691 Research Instructor
- Andrews, Bethany Joann (2016-08). Evaluation of Photoperiod Sensitive Grain Sorghum Hybrids for Heterosis and Grain Quality Traits. (Master's Thesis)
- Vacek, Luke Anthony (2016-05). The Effects of Cytoplasm on the Yield and Quality of Sorghum Biomass Hybrids. (Master's Thesis)
- Hayes, Chad Matthew (2016-05). Evaluation and QTL Mapping of Leaf Composition Traits Associated with the Stay-Green Phenotype in Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. (Doctoral Dissertation)
- Pugh, Nicholas Ace (2015-08). Heritability and Quantitative Trait Loci for Popping Characteristics in Sorghum Grain. (Master's Thesis)
- Gomez, Francisco Ernesto (2015-08). Biomechanics of Bioenergy Sorghum [Sorghum Bicolor (L.) moench]. (Master's Thesis)