Genotypic Variability and Phenotypic Correlation between Growth and Yield characters of some Sweet Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) Genotypes

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the demonstration farm, College of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University of Science and Technology Shambat, in the period from July to November 2014, to invest variability and correlation between yield and yield components in twenty genotypes of sweet sorghum. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Parameters were studied for some growth and yield characters included plant height (cm), stem diameter (mm), number of leaves, leaf area (cm2), biomass (t\ha), weight of leaves (t\ha), weight of stem (t\ha), weight of heads (t\ha), baggas (t\ha), volume of juice (t\ha) and brix. The phenotypic and genotypic variances, phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation and phenotypic correlation for yield and yield components were determined. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences between genotypes for all characters under study. For phenotypic variance the results showed that the highest value (52000) was scored for weight of heads and the lowest value (0.00497) was scored for fresh weight plant, On the other hand, for the genotypic variance the highest value (5045.3) was scored for weight of heads and lowest value (0.00471) was scored for fresh weight. For the phenotypic coefficients of variation, the highest value (75.8) was scored for weight of heads and lowest value (0.20) was scored for biomass, moreover, for the genotypic coefficient of variation the highest value (74.6) was scored for weight of heads and lowest value (0.49) was scored for weight of leaves. The highest value of heritability was obsereved for biomass and the lowest value for weight of leaves. The results showed positive and significant phenotypic correlation between weight of leaves, biomass, baggas and volume of juice, moreover, negative and significant correlation between brix, biomass, weight of stem and fresh weight. It could be that a variability was detected among the different sweet sorghum genotypes used in this study. Which has strong impact for breeding programs.