STUDY OF GENETIC VARIABILITY OF FODDER YIELD AND IT’S COMPONENTS IN FORAGE SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.)
RAMRAJ SEN1*, ROHIT KUMAR SAINI1, S. K. SINGH1 AND ASHISH KUMAR2
1Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding,
2Department of Horticulture
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology,
Meerut-250 110, (Uttar Pradesh), India
*(e-mail : senramraj537@gmail.com)
(Received : 19 August 2019; Accepted : 5 September 2019)
SUMMARY
Sixteen genotypes of sorghum viz., UP Chari-4 G-48 HC-260 UP Chari-2 SSV-84 SSV- 84 Pusa Chari-6, Pant Chari-4, HC-136, Pant Chari-7, Pant Chari-3, UP Chari-1, Jawahar Chari-6, MP Chari, HC-171, UP Chari-3 and HJ-513 were studied for genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for green fodder yield, days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of leaves per plant, stem girth, leaf length, leaf breadth, total soluble solids, leaf area, leaf stem ratio, protein content and green fodder yield. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences among the parents and F1s for all the eleven traits. The parent’s vs hybrids revealed highly significant differences for all the observations. The F test indicated that the variance due to treatments were highly significant for all the attributes which indicated that the presence of substantial genetic variability in the present set of material. The highest values of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation (more than 25%) were observed for plant height, stem girth, leaf stem ratio and green fodder yield per plant, suggested that there was a possibility of improvement of fodder yield through direct selection. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for leaf length, days to 50% flowering, leaf breadth, leaf area, leaf stem ratio, protein content and green fodder yield per plant, indicating that these characters are governed by additive gene action. Direct selection of these attributes will be effective and profitably for yield improvement.
Key words:Sorghum bicolor, variability, heritability, genetic advance