Genetic divergence study for duration and biomass traits in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]

Abstract

Germplasm can be exploited efficiently by determining its genetic diversity and identifying desirable parents for crop improvement programs. In this study, 200 diverse sets of sorghum accessions were evaluated during rabi, 2019 with an aim of assessing genetic diversity for fodder component traits using D 2 statistics. Fresh biomass contributed the highest (47.4%) towards divergence followed by days to flowering (35.9%) and plant height (16.7%). All the 200 genotypes were grouped into 6 clusters with Cluster I having the maximum number of genotypes (108) followed by cluster IV (47), VI (39) and clusters II, III, V having the least genotype number (2). Cluster I had the highest (10.61) intra cluster distance while cluster II had the least (0.41) intra cluster distance. Inter cluster distance between I and IV was observed the highest (10.43) while the least was observed between III and V. Genotypes from Cluster II and IV were observed to be the best suited for fodder improvement programs.

D2 analysis and principal component analysis to assess genetic divergence in Sorghum bicolor (L.) moench for yield and its related attributes

“…Ear length, grain yield ~ 324 ~ per plant, number of leaves per plant, days to 50% flowering and days to maturity contributing for maximum divergence in 40 yellow pericarp sorghum genotypes. Principal component analysis conducted by Prasanth et al (2021) [10] exhibited the similar results for Fresh biomass, days to flowering and plant height similarly Rohila et al (2022) [11] for green fodder yield, dry fodder yield, and plant height Kavithamani et al (2019) [6] for 100 seed weight and Plant height. and Gird-5 showed maximum distance between therefore hybrids between them will be a heterotic hybrid with maximum variability, higher magnitude of inter Cluster values than intra Cluster values indicated the presence of a good deal of variability within Clusters, 30 sorghum genotypes were found to be most diverse for the character; transpiration rate.…”

Pilot-scale genome-wide association mapping in diverse sorghum germplasms identified novel genetic loci linked to major agronomic, root and stomatal traits

“…All 219 sorghum accessions were grown during 2019 and 2020 Rabi season (September-October to January-February) at Agricultural Research Station, Kovilpatti, India (Latitude 9.17′ N, Longitude 77.88′ E). The experimental design and eld management were maintained the same for both years as described previously 59 .…”