Studies on genetic variability and diversity in forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]
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Date
2022-08
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. PIN - 263145
Abstract
The present investigation “Studies on Genetic Variability and Diversity in Forage Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]” was carried out with 22 test entries and 2 check at the Instructional Dairy Farm, Nagla of Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand during Kharif season, 2021. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with 3 replications. Observations were recorded for 11 quantitative and 3 quality traits viz., days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf area, stem girth, leaf stem ratio, shoot fly dead heart %, TSS, HCN content, protein content, dry fodder yield and green fodder yield with key objective to assess the genetic variability parameters, correlation among various traits and their direct and indirect effects on green fodder yield and genetic diversity The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among all the 24 genotypes for all the 14 traits under study. High GCV and PCV were found for traits namely, HCN content, shoot fly dead heart %, leaf stem ratio, TSS, dry fodder yield, green fodder yield and stem girth. High heritability accompanied by high genetic advance for traits viz., number of leaves per plant, stem girth, leaf stem ratio, shoot fly dead heart %, TSS, HCN content, protein content, dry fodder yield and green fodder yield indicating additive gene action. Analysis of correlation coefficient revealed the highly significant and positive correlation, at both genotypic and phenotypic level, of green fodder yield with plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf area, stem girth, leaf stem ratio, TSS and dry fodder yield. Path coefficient analysis disclosed that dry fodder yield had maximum positive direct effect on green fodder yield followed by stem girth, TSS, leaf stem ratio, plant height, HCN content, protein content, leaf breadth, number of leaves per plant, shoot fly dead heart % and days to 50% flowering while leaf length and leaf area exhibited negative direct on green fodder yield. High positive indirect effect on green fodder yield was exhibited mainly via dry fodder yield, TSS and stem girth. The genetic diversity of 24 genotypes, which were divided into seven clusters, was evaluated using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. Cluster IV was found to have maximum number of genotypes followed by cluster I and V. Highest inter-cluster distance was recorded between cluster IV and cluster V. It was found that dry fodder yield contributed maximum towards genetic diversity followed by green fodder yield. Based on per se performance of genotypes, it was found that PC 21-1158 and PC 21-1227 were found superior over best check Pant chari-5 for both green as well as dry fodder yield along with low HCN content. Hence, they can be used in further breeding programme for crop improvement.