Yield Adaptability and Stability of Grain Sorghum Crosses across Environments under S. hermonthica Infestation in Sudan

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study yield stability of grain sorghum genotypes obtained by crossing the Striga hermonthica resistant genotypes IS9830, 555, SAR33, Framida, N13, ICSV006, ICSV007, PQ-34 Brhan and SRN39 and its derivatives P401, P402 and P405 as donors with the improved, elite Sudanese sorghum cultivars, Wad Ahmed (WA), Tabat (TA), Butana (BU) and Arfagadamek-8 (AG-8) as recurrent parents. The experiment was undertaken in two consecutive seasons (2016/17 and 2017/18) at three sites constituting six environments representing the irrigated and rain-fed sectors in the Sudan. The experiment, set in a randomized complete block design with four replicates, was laid in S. hermonthica sick plots. Data analyses, using GenStat software and combined analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (P≤0.01) among environments, genotypes and their interactions for grain yield. Twenty seven crosses, showing grain yield (20.4-72.4%) exceed the grand mean (898.1 kg ha-1) and 218.5-1475% higher than the maternal parents across the environments. Based on Additive Main Effect and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) analysis the crosses Framida x AG-8, PQ-34 x BU, ICSV006 x BU, ICSV007 x BU, SAR33 x BU, SAR33 x TA, P402 x TA, PQ-34 x WA, P405 x WA, P401 x WA, Framida x WA, SAR33 x WA and Brhan x WA were identified as the most stable, endowed with Striga resistant and/or tolerance and high grain yield (1139-1548 kg ha-1). It is recommended that these crosses be examined further for grain and nutrimental qualities, resistance mechanisms and potentials for deployment as components of S. hermonthica integrated management strategies and/or sources for resistance and/or tolerance.