{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T04:51:59Z","timestamp":1792644719705,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786320000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rainfed cereal production in southwestern Saudi Arabia depends largely on farmer-saved landraces, creating an important opportunity to strengthen grain and fodder productivity in mixed crop-livestock systems exposed to heat and variable rainfall. This study evaluated introduced dual-purpose sorghum and pearl millet germplasm under contrasting arid, supplemental-irrigated rainfed environments, and applied complementary quantitative approaches to identify high-performing, stable candidates that balance grain yield and green-fodder production while accounting for genotype \u00d7 environment interaction (G\u00d7E).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Twenty-seven sorghum and 15 pearl millet entries were evaluated in alpha-lattice trials at the contrasting Jazan lowland and Abha highland sites across four site \u00d7 season\/sowing-window environments. Linear mixed models quantified environment, genotype, and G\u00d7E effects and estimated entry-mean reliability. Stability and adaptation patterns were evaluated using the weighted average of absolute scores from BLUPs (WAASB) and GGE biplots. Dual-purpose performance was assessed using a standardized 50:50 grain-yield-fresh-biomass index as a transparent baseline in the absence of validated local economic or farmer-preference weights. Pareto-frontier analysis was used to identify non-dominated genotypes representing efficient grain-green-fodder trade-offs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The trials revealed substantial genetic variation and contrasting genotype responses across environments, demonstrating considerable scope for improving grain and green-fodder productivity. Selection reliability was very high for sorghum fresh biomass and pearl millet grain yield, and high for pearl millet fresh biomass, providing a strong basis for prioritizing selection candidates within the target production environments. Sorghum grain yield showed lower reliability because only two grain-evaluable environments were available and G\u00d7E variance was large, highlighting a clear priority for expanded grain testing. SSV 74, WM 89\/90#1615, and 89WM 5003 achieved the highest sorghum DualIndex values, while ICSV 15021 combined the highest mean fresh biomass with the lowest WAASB, identifying it as a particularly promising forage-oriented candidate. In pearl millet, LCICMV-1 (SOSAT-C-88) and ICMV 91450 displayed favorable grain-green-fodder profiles, ICMV 221 recorded the highest mean grain yield, and LCICMV-4 (Jirani) showed promising grain-yield performance under Jazan-associated conditions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study identified a valuable portfolio of sorghum and pearl millet candidates addressing complementary production objectives, including high green-fodder productivity, balanced grain-fodder performance, high grain yield, and targeted environmental adaptation. By integrating mixed-model reliability, stability analysis, a transparent grain-green-fodder index, and Pareto-frontier assessment, the study provides a rigorous and practical framework for converting early multi-environment data into evidence-based advancement decisions. The identified genotypes provide a strong foundation for expanded multi-location and participatory on-farm validation, standardized fodder-quality assessment, and staged seed-system development. Collectively, these findings advance the development of productive and resilient dual-purpose cereal options capable of strengthening grain and fodder security in southwestern Saudi Arabia and comparable arid mixed crop-livestock systems.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1795221","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T06:17:59Z","timestamp":1786342679000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Index- and Pareto-based multi-trait selection identifies dual-purpose sorghum and pearl millet cultivars for arid agro-ecosystems of Saudi Arabia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Ephrem","family":"Habyarimana","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdullah","family":"Alhendi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kakoli","family":"Ghosh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Niranjan Ravindra","family":"Thakur","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ashok Kumar","family":"Are","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rajan","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jagdish","family":"Jaba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shashi Kumar","family":"Gupta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Henry F.","family":"Ojulong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRAF House","place":["Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Riyazaddin","family":"Mohammed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Niamey, Niger"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Falalou","family":"Hamidou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Niamey, Niger"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmed","family":"Abdelmahoud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anitha","family":"Raman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics","place":["Patancheru, India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rashed","family":"Almarri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27554","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-024-33024-3","article-title":"Water scarcity in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia","volume":"31","author":"Abdella","year":"2024","journal-title":"Environ. 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