Potential of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) cultivars under different water regimes for some agronomic performances, juice yield and related traits

Abstract

Continued evaluation for drought tolerance on crops with high potential is an important factor in mitigating the effects of climate change and in the long run secure enough food and alleviate world hunger. Sweet sorghum is one of the multifunctional crops which has shown potential as food, industrial and bioenergy source, thus it is important to study its potential under various conditions. A pot study was conducted in early rainy season (March-August 2020), the experiment was arranged 3 × 2 factorial in RCBD with four replications. Factor A was 3 water regimes (FC, 2/3AW and 1/3AW), factor B was two sweet sorghum cultivars [cv. Suwan Sweet Extra (Thai sweet sorghum) and SSV74 (imported from India)]. The results revealed that significant differences were not observed among water regimes in most traits i.e. plant height, stalk diameter, relative water content (RWC), stalk fresh weight and juice yield in harvesting day. This could suggest that sweet sorghum will perform well in any moisture condition, most importantly in lesser moisture environments. Significant differences were observed among sweet sorghum cultivars in several traits i.e. spad chlorophyll meter reading (SCMR), chlorophyll content, brix value, root dry weight, juice yield and R/S ration at harvesting day. Relationship among traits were also observed but the most interesting results was where we found juice yield having negative correlation to brix value (r=-0.736***) and another no correlation was observed between stalk weight and juice