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Improving yield and quality of fodder from forage sorghum is important, especially in the semi-arid tropics, where sorghum is a major source of fodder. The aim of this work was to understand the genetic basis of fodder yield and quality traits, and character associations, and to estimate combining ability of the parents. The experiment was carried out during 2 successive rainy seasons using 10 parents crossed in a half-diallel design. Significant differences among the genotypes for fodder yield, quality and cell wall constituents were observed. Important quality traits, crude protein and digestibility (IVOMD), were not correlated with fodder yield, indicating the potential to improve yield and quality simultaneously in forage sorghum. General combining ability and specific combining ability variances showed that, for almost all characters, both additive and non-additive gene effects were important, with a predominance of non-additive effects. Parental lines SEVS4, HC308 and UPMC503 were good general combiners for yield and quality. The brown midrib lines, EC582508 and EC582510, were good general combiners for low lignin and high IVOMD. Strategies for improving forage sorghum to suit animal and biofuel industries are discussed. ResumenEl mejoramiento del rendimiento y la calidad del sorgo forrajero (Sorghum spp.) es especialmente importante en zonas tropicales semiáridas, donde esta gramínea es un importante forraje. El objetivo de este trabajo fue entender la base genética de importantes características de rendimiento y calidad y sus relaciones, así como estimar la aptitud combinatoria de los genotipos parentales. El experimento se realizó en Hyderabad, India, durante 2 períodos sucesivos de lluvia utilizando 10 líneas parentales que se cruzaron en un diseño dialélico medio. Se observaron diferencias significativas entre los genotipos en rendimiento de forraje y calidad, especialmente en los constituyentes de la pared celular. No se encontró correlación entre el rendimiento de forraje y factores importantes de calidad (proteína cruda y digestibilidad in vitro de la materia orgánica), resultados que indican que en sorgo forrajero existe potencial para mejorar estas características del forraje en forma simultánea. Las varianzas de las aptitudes combinatorias general y específica mostraron que para la mayoría de las características en estudio, tanto los efectos aditivos de genes como los no-aditivos fueron importantes, con un predominio de estos últimos. Las líneas parentales SEVS4, HC308 y UPMC503 fueron buenos combinantes generales para rendimiento y calidad, mientras que las líneas Brown Midrib EC582508 y EC582510 fueron buenos combinantes generales para baja concentración de lignina y alta digestibilidad. En el trabajo se discuten estrategias de mejoramiento de sorgo forrajero para su adaptación a los requerimientos de producción animal y la industria de biocombustibles. Aruna, M. Swarnalatha, P.P. Kumar, V. Devender, M. Suguna, M. Blümmel and J.V. Patil www.tropicalgrasslands.info

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Sorghum can be an alternative to corn for industrial uses, especially in drought prone areas of the world. Sorghum cultivars with high potential of grain and starch yields are needed to continuously meet the industrial demands. We have studied the genetics of grain yield and starch content of sorghum to decide the breeding procedure to develop suitable cultivars for starch industry. The genetic material from 8 × 8 diallel (28 F 1 and 8 parents) was grown in a randomized complete block design, with three replications at Directorate of Sorghum Research, Hyderabad, India. Observations were recorded on seven agro-morphological and two grain quality traits including grain yield and starch content. Correlation studies revealed that the grain hardness was negatively correlated to starch and positively correlated to grain yield, panicle weight and days to flowering. Variance due to specific combining ability effects was greater in magnitude for both starch content and grain yield. Bi-parental crossing in F 2 will help in getting pure lines with high starch content and high grain yield. The parents chosen for breeding program need to be good combiners for starch and grain yields to obtain superior hybrid. One MS line, 422B was a good combiner for grain yield, high starch content and 100 grain weight, and had good per se performance.