Open AccessGenetic Variability, Heritability and Correlation Studies in Fifty Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) Accessions Collected from Southern Nigeria
Author(s) -
O. D. Alade,
A. C. Odiyi,
L. S. Fayeun,
B. O. Akinyele,
A. B. Obilana
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asian journal of agricultural and horticultural research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2581-4478
DOI - 10.9734/ajahr/2021/v8i430128
Subject(s) - sorghum , heritability , panicle , biology , genetic variability , randomized block design , agronomy , sorghum bicolor , sweet sorghum , crop , path coefficient , genetic correlation , agriculture , genetic variation , genotype , path analysis (statistics) , statistics , ecology , mathematics , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important food crop in southern Nigeria with high genetic variability. However, this variability is not characterized. Fifty sorghum accessions collected from different states in southern Nigeria were evaluated for eleven agronomic characters to determine the extent of genetic variability and character association among the accessions. The experiments were laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Ondo State and Federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu research farm during the rainy season of 2018 and 2019. Data were collected on eleven quantitative traits for genetic variability and character association. Panicle weight had the highest GCV (24.96%) and PCV (30.61%). Ten out of the eleven traits have heritability estimates above 50% which implies an opportunity for improvement among the traits with the number of days to 50% heading having the highest (98.84%). Correlation analysis showed significant and positive association among growth, flowering traits and head traits. The strong positive correlation coefficients of plant height with all the traits implies that simultaneous selection for these traits is possible for improvement in sorghum genotypes for fodder and grain traits.