Genetic divergence in land race collections of rabi sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.]

Abstract

The grain productivity of rabi sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.] in India is verY low (610 kg/hal as much of the cultivated area is under land races which are very poor yielders. To enhance the productivity levels of rabi sorghum, prior information on the nature and magnitude of genetic diversity present in germplasm collections is a pre-requisite. An attempt in the present investigation was therefore made to study the nature and magnitude of genetic divergence for grain yield and its components and also to identify divergent parents from distantly related clusters for suitable hybridization.