Abstract:
This study was carried out to assess the variation in morphological and
yield traits for 13 sorghum germplasm. A field experiment was executed
during winter season of 2015 at the demonstration farm of the faculty of
Agriculture, University of Khartoum, Shambat. Sorghum accessions were
morpho-agronomically characterized by using the sorghum descriptors lists
from the International Board of Plant Genetic Resources, IBPGR/ICRISAT
(1993) as reference for the observations. The agronomic performance of the
accessions was evaluated in regular field experiment with two replications.
The results obtained from this study showed that phenotypic variation was
detectable for all qualitative characters studied (descriptors). Frequency of
occurrence of the different descriptor states varied between rare (<20%),
moderate (20% - 60%), common (61% - 90%) and abundant (>90%). A
highly significant difference among accessions for all of the studied traits
was revealed. Days to flowering, plant height, stem diameter, leaf area,
inflorescence length, 100 seed weight and grain number per panicle showed
wide variation. While, the inflorescence width and number of leaves per
plant showed a little significant differences . Plant height was significant and
positively correlated with the Inflorescence length, but significant and
negatively correlated with 100 seed weight. The stem diameter was
significant and positively correlated with the Inflorescence width, leaf area ,
grain number per panicle and days to flowering. Moreover, leaf area had
significant and positive correlation coefficients with grain number per
panicle and days to flowering. The Inflorescence length was significant and
positively correlated to the grain number per panicle, but negatively
correlated to 100 seed weight. Also the Inflorescence width was significant
and positively correlated with days to flowering .While the number of leaves
was negatively correlated to 100 seed weight. Also the 100 seed weight was
negatively correlated to grain number per panicle. It is concluded that
sorghum in Sudan contain high genetic variations in wide spectrum of
quantitative and qualitative parameters. Such variations can be very useful to
increase the efficiency of sorghum breeding and improvement programs. It
is also important to continue conservation of Sudan sorghum germplasm.
