Abstract
Sorghum is one of the most important cereal crops grown in arid/semi-arid regions of the world. Despite its importance, sorghum production and productivity are constrained by the use of low yielding cultivars, which are susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses. Understanding and utilising the genetic variation in sorghum accessions is essential for improving the crop. The objective of this study was to establish the level of genetic diversity that exists in sorghum accessions maintained at Agricultural Research Council, South Africa, using agro-morphological traits. One hundred sorghum accessions were evaluated based on five qualitative and 14 quantitative traits at Potchefstroom during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 cropping seasons. The experiment was laid out in a 20 × 5 alpha lattice design with three replicates. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) differences for all quantitative traits measured indicating the existence of a wide genetic variation among accessions. Phenotypic Coefficient of Variance was higher (27.4%) than the Genotypic Coefficient of Variance (21.3%) for all the quantitative traits recorded, which indicated that all traits were slightly influenced by environment. High broad sense heritability (76.0%) coupled with high genetic advance as percentage mean (43.8%) was observed in most of the traits, indicating the effectiveness of the phenotypic selection for these traits. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the 100 accessions into four clusters. The clustering patterns of accessions was not entirely based on geographic origin and/or breeding status, probably due to gene flow. This study showed the existence of wide genetic diversity within the sorghum accessions, which could be exploited in the improvement of the crop. Accessions SA 2020 and SA 0700 with brown midrib colour could be used to improve the fodder quality in livestock. Accessions SA 2097, SA 3710, SA 0954 and Maseka a swere that recorded high grain yield per panicle were characterised by a semi-loose erect panicle type and brown grain colour, traits preferred by farmers.
Published Version
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