Relationship among grain yield and its component traits in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) germplasm accessions

Abstract

The field experiment was carried out by using 101 germplasm accessions along with seven checks during Kharif 2018 in augmented design II to evaluate the association among grain yield and its component traits into direct and indirect effects of traits on the yield. The study was conducted for nine traits viz., plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, panicle length, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, hundred seed weight and grain yield per plant. Association studies indicated that hundred grain weight (r = 0.294) showed a significant positive correlation with grain yield per plant. This indicates that a strong association of this trait with grain yield per plant that could be fruitfully exploited for enhancing the yield potential in sorghum. Partitioning of yield and yield components into direct and indirect effects revealed that the characters, hundred seed weight (0.2922), leaf width (0.074), panicle length (0.1294) and stem diameter (0.0034) showed a positive direct effect on grain yield per plant. Hence, these results revealed that the characters viz., leaf width, panicle length, and hundred seed weight are important traits for grain yield improvement.