Evaluation of morpho-physiological characters in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (l.) Moench) genotypes under post-flowering drought stress

oleh: N. Kumari Vinodhana and K. Ganesamurthy

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Indian Society of Plant Breeders 2010-07-01

Deskripsi

Post-flowering drought adaptation in sorghum is associated with the stay-green phenotype. Plants with stay green resist droughtinducedpremature plant senescence. Sorghum varietal improvement for drought conditions could be achieved moreefficiently if the trait associated with drought resistance could be identified and utilized as selection criteria. Hence, fieldstudies were carried out in a randomized block design with two replications during the post-rainy season to evaluate responsesamong 100 sorghum genotypes under post-flowering drought stress which include B35 and CO26 as a drought resistant andsusceptible check respectively. A total of 15 morpho-physiological characters putatively related with crop performanceunder drought were studied. Significant variations were found in all the traits among the sorghum genotypes studied.Based on the per se performance the genotypes MS73, CO21, CO22, Tenkasi1, AS2059, AS5078, AS2752, AS5057,AS4289, MS7819, IS5379, AS8038, AS6616, K3, MS7837, Murungapatti local, Uppam chloam, VS1564, VS1560,CO24 and CO1 exhibited high mean values for relative water content, SPAD chlorophyll reading, root length, rootvolume, root dry weight, 1000 grain weight, grain yield, and lower score for stay-green when compared to othergenotypes under stress. These genotypes also recorded low drought susceptibility index, high relative yield, stresstolerance index and yield stability ratio and they can be used as the parents for future breeding programmes.