Kazemi H, Sabouri A, Aalami A, Abedi A, Nezamivand-Chegini M
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is a prominent cereal known for its high photosynthetic efficiency and biomass production, serving as a source of food, animal feed, fiber, and biofuels. This study aims to validate identified meta-genes associated with drought stress in sorghum. Two cultivars, Mansour (drought-tolerant) and Pegah (drought-susceptible), were subjected to drought stress at four levels (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of field capacity [FC]( During the 4-5 leaf stage in a greenhouse in 2021. The physiological and molecular responses of the sorghum samples were evaluated at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h post-treatment. The expression of five meta-genes was analyzed to validate these candidate genes related to drought stress tolerance in sorghum. Analysis of variance indicated that the main effects of drought, cultivar, and sampling time, as well as their interactions, had highly significant effects (P