Morphological diversity in sorghum germplasm from India

Of the 5000 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Monench) germplasm accessions assembled at ICRISAT Asia Center (IAC), over 4000 accessions from Ii major sorghum growing states in India were evaluated for morphological and agronomical characters at IAC during rainy and postrainy seasons. Considerable diversity was observed for all the characters studied. Diversity was more among states than within states. Variation among the seasons was also considerable Days to flowering ranged from 42 to 129 days during postrainy and 33 to 280 days during the rainy season indicating their day length sensitivity. Plant height ranged from 65 to 330 cm during postrainy and 75 to 655 cm during rainy season. Panicle length ranged from 5 cm to 52 cm and panicle width from 1 to 51 cm. Erect and compact panicles are more frequent although all possible panicle shapes and compactness were found. In general, sorghums from India produce medium to large, lustrous grains in which the subcoat (testa) is absent. All the 5 basic and IO intermediate sorghum races were found in India though durra or half-durra predominate. Racial diversity is maximal in the state of Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharashatra state. In the world collection a majority of the sources of resistance to shoot fly, stem borer, and striga are from India. Based on diversity for morphological and agronomical characters, India could be considered as the secondary center of diversity. Sorghum germplasm from India is useful for good quality large grain.