Performance and genetic diversity of pre-commercial sweet sorghum hybrids in Central-Western and Southern Brazil

Abstract

Sweet sorghum is a promising source of ethanol production. In this sense, the investigation of genetic diversity aims to direct heterotic crosses and identify populations that display transgressive segregation in advanced generations. For this, two experiments consisting of 10 sweet sorghum genotypes were installed in 2015/16 at the municipalities of Sinop, in the state of Mato Grosso (MT), and Passo Fundo, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. The variables evaluated in this assessment comprised fresh mass production, dry mass production, Ethanol liters per hectare, soluble solid contents, plant height and flowering. The sweet sorghum performance and genetic diversity was estimated. Five genetic groups were observed. Fresh mass, Ethanol, flowering and height were significant for both locations, demonstrating the influence of environment on hybrid behavior. Crosses between genotypes 4x8 at Passo Fundo, and 9x10 at Sinop are favorable, as these genotypes exhibit good agronomic characteristics, especially for the main variable employed in the sugar-alcohol industry. Flowering contributed the most to genotype separation in both locations. Crosses between genotypes 4x8 and 4x9 are promising to obtain superior segregating populations for both environments, as they exhibited the greatest diversity-interfering contributions considering the investigated variables.