Heterosis and Inbreeding Depression in forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]
Suneeta Pandey* and P. K. Shrotria1
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics,
JNKVV, Jabalpur
*(e-mail : suneetaalmora@gmail.com)
(Received : 17 May, 2013, Accepted : 13 June, 2013)
Abstract
The present investigation in forage sorghum {Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench} was carried out to study the magnitude of heterosis and inbreeding depression in fifty four crosses (F1s) and their F2s made by crossing nine sudan grass pollinators with six cytoplasmic male sterile lines in a line x tester mating design. Observations were recorded on yield and quality traits viz. plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf width, number of basal tillers, shootfly infestation, total soluble solids, HCN content, protein percent, green and dry fodder yield. Variable magnitude of three type of heterosis (better parent, mid parent and standard) were observed for different cross combinations for all the traits. Based on per se performance and heterotic response for green and dry fodder yield, two best crosses identified were ICSA-271 x UTMC-523 and ICSA-271 x 700R. Response of inbreeding depression was significant in positive direction for most of the characters except leaf width, number of basal tillers, total soluble solids, HCN content and protein percent.
Key words : Sorghum bicolor, heterosis, inbreeding depression, green fodder yield, dry fodder yield