Morphological characterization of forage sorghum genotypes for its various DUS traits

The present investigation was conducted to characterize 20 genotypes of sorghum {Sorghum bicolor (L.) moench} on the basis of 33 morphological characters provided by Protection of Plant Variety & Farmer’s Right Act (PPV&FRA) for Distinctiveness Uniformity and Stability (DUS) testing in sorghum. Experimental results revealed that maximum variation was found on the basis of glume colour among the genotypes i.e. G 46, HC 308, HJ 513 had green white, IS 3237, SSG 9, HC 171 had yellow white, SSG 59-3, COFS 29 had grayed purple, S 437-1, SGL-87, S 540-S, SSG (PSSG) had grayed yellow and remaining seven genotypes had grayed orange glume colour. The studied traits showed five genotypes had distinct state of expression. Genotype S-540 showed very high plant height upto the base of flag leaf, HC 136 had compact panicle density at maturity, COFS 29 had very long glume length, SSG 59-3 had distinct expression for days to panicle emergence (50 % of the plants with 50 % of anthesis) and COFS 29 and IS 18551 had short and very long leaf width of blade, respectively. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed principal Factor (PFI) and Principal Factor (PFII) with maximum variability (64.99 %). Classification of genotypes on the basis of DUS traits provided identification of key characteristics of various genotypes.