Sorghum is considered as one of the oldest cultivated cereal crops and is valued for its diverse applications. Understanding the relationships between yield components and overall yield is crucial for making effective selections in crop improvement programs. A field experiment was conducted at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (29°01' N, 77°45' E) during kharif 2022 to assess 39 forage sorghum genotypes for genetic variability, association and diversity assessment based on 10 agronomic traits. Significant variation was found for all traits, with moderate genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) recorded for green fodder yield, leaf area, total soluble solids and leaf breadth. High genetic advance coupled with high heritability were found for green fodder yield, leaf area and total soluble solids which reflect additive gene action. Green fodder yield exhibited a significant positive association with leaf area, stem girth and leaves per plant at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis identified stem girth and leaf area had the highest effect on green fodder yield. D² clustering, grouped the genotypes into 6 clusters, with maximum divergence (D²=5.26) between Cluster V (Rajasthan Chari-2, UP Chari-4, HC-171, HC-260) and Cluster VI (SSG 59-3, IC-0568396, HC-136, IC-0347570). Principal component analysis (PCA) identified that the first three components with eigenvalues greater than unity, accounted for a total of 63.92 % variation. Based on genetic divergence and trait performance 8 elite genotypes; Rajasthan Chari-2, UP Chari-4, HC-171, HC-260, SSG 59-3, IC-0568396, HC-136 and IC-0347570 were identified as promising parents for hybridisation to exploit heterosis and develop high-yielding forage sorghum cultivars.
Soyal et al. (Tue,) studied this question.