Metroglyph analysis of morphological variations in Sorghum germplasm collections

An experiment was conducted during kharif 2008, to assess the pattern of morphological variations through metroglyph technique in local land races of Sorghum collected from different parts of Tamil Nadu. Based on this technique, genetic variability was evaluated for five characters viz., grain yield / plant (g), fodder yield / plant (g), grain size (g), 1000 grain weight and ear head compactness among 63 accessions. The mean values were used for plotting the accessions in a graph. All accessions were grouped into eight distinct groups, which differed amongst themselves. Group II was the largest comprising 25 accessions followed by Group V having 13 accessions with moderate grain yield and fodder yield. Group VI consisted of 3 accessions with high yield and medium fodder yield besides moderate 1000 grain weight and ear head compactness. Group VIII had 3 accessions classified into medium grain yield with high fodder yield consisting of compact ear head and bold grains. Land races are the primitive cultivars which are selected and cultivated by farmers for many generations. Land races have more genetic diversity, wider adaptability and high degree of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and even respond to selection for high yield. In the present world of research, great strides in sorghum improvement have been made by transforming the local land races into more productive forms through hybridization to evolve highly adapted hybrids. Since, sorghum is the dual purpose crop, the germplasm lines of Group III, VI, VII and V could be helpful in future breeding programme for achieving higher grain yield, yield components and fodder yield. The study, therefore, indicated the possibility of producing dual purpose sorghum hybrids by combining desirable germplasm accessions.