Phenotypic characterization of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) germplasm accessions for various DUS traits

Abstract

Characterization of individuals, cultivars or germplasm is highly essential to avoid duplicates and to select suitable parents for the breeding program. The objective of this study is to characterize 108 sorghum germplasm accessions to obtain information on variations that exist among accessions and also to know the uniqueness of the genotypes. Characterization and grouping of accessions were done using the DUS descriptor provided by PPV&FRA for Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability. Among the 33 characters assessed, six characters viz., stigma anthocyanin pigmentation, stem diameter, stigma length, flag leaf yellow coloration, leaf sheath anthocyanin pigmentation, and leaf orientation were monomorphic while the other traits showed polymorphic variations. Maximum diversity was exerted for panicle traits, grain traits and also for leaf traits namely leaf length (31 cm to 77 cm) and leaf width (3 cm to 9 cm). These polymorphic lines might act as a reference genotype for future breeding work.