Phenotypic characterization of Sorghum [(Sorghum bicolor L). Moench] germplasm accessions for various agro-morphological characters.

Abstract

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide after rice, wheat, maize and barley. It is used as food, feed, fodder and biofuel. In the Deccan Plateau it is an important dry land crop. It is grown on 3.5 m ha area in the states of Maharashtra (2.2 m ha), Karnataka (0.97 m ha) and Andhra Pradesh (0.12 m ha). Germplasm is important natural resource and must be collected and conserved. It is also important to characterize available germplasm so as to use them in breeding. The variability in germplasm is huge and untapped. These germplasm are rich source of novel genes for many agronomic traits including resistance to biotic and abiotic and quality traits. In the present study, a total of 74 germplasm supplied by IIMR were characterized at Centre on Rabi Sorghum, IIMR, Solapur during Kharif 2017. The germplasm lines were evaluated in RCBD with two replications. Analysis of variance revealed that, there is a significant difference between the accessions for most of the traits. The mean performance of the lines for various quantitative traits such as Days to 50% flowering (days), Plant height (cm), Panicle exertion(cm), Peduncle length(cm), Grain yield/plant(g), Fodder yield/plant(g) ranged from 55-100, 95-275, 0-35, 15-64, 10-250 and 300-800 respectively. The line no. GP 54 is the dwarfest (95cm), GP3 is being the earliest (55 days). The frequency classes in the qualitative traits were studied to identify common and rare types. It was found that 76.25% of accessions were with light green leaf colour and 5% with pale green. The maximum of 92.1% midrib colour with green and 7.2% with white. The non-tan type was maximum (89.6%). In the leaf orientation 92.2% accessions were drooping while 6% with erect.