EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT SETS OF POST RAINY SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR L. MOENCH] CROSSES FOR YIELD AND RELATED TRAITS UNDER RAINFED SITUATION

Abstract

Post-rainy season sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) requires broadening of its genetic base to improve productivity while retaining adaptation to moisture-limited production environments. Conventional biparental breeding can restrict recombination among diverse favourable alleles, whereas multi-parent crossing provides greater scope for generating novel genetic combinations and transgressive variation. The present study evaluated 74 cross-derived entries, comprising 48 multi-parent-derived entries and 26 entries representing diverse conventional genetic backgrounds, under post-rainy season conditions at the ICAR–Indian Institute of Millets Research, Regional Station, Solapur, India. The material was assessed for nine quantitative traits encompassing flowering time, plant architecture, panicle characteristics, grain yield, stover yield and seed weight. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences (P < 0.001) among entries for all traits, demonstrating substantial exploitable variation within the evaluated breeding material. Days to 50% flowering ranged from 56.50 to 84.50 days, while grain yield per plant and stover yield per plant varied from 25.00 to 96.55 g and 29.00 to 115.00 g, respectively. Multi-parent-derived entries recorded comparatively higher mean grain yield (49.94 g plant⁻¹) than the M35-1 (41.62 g plant⁻¹) and CSV 26R (36.56 g plant⁻¹) background groups. MC-28 emerged as the most promising entry, recording the highest observed plant height (294.00 cm), grain yield (96.55 g plant⁻¹), stover yield (115.00 g plant⁻¹) and 1000-seed weight (40.60 g). Grain yield showed a strong positive association with 1000-seed weight at both phenotypic (P = 0.43) and genotypic (G = 0.52) levels, while stover yield was positively associated with grain yield (P = 0.43; G = 0.42). Genetic variability estimates further indicated exploitable variation for yield and adaptive traits. Overall, the study demonstrates the value of multi parent-derived material for generating diverse and potentially superior post-rainy sorghum germplasm and identifies MC-28 as a promising breeding resource for further evaluation. Multi-environment testing, genotype × environment analysis and targeted stress-response characterization are warranted to establish the stability and broader breeding value of the identified entries.