Abstract:
Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world. It serves as a staple food for
millions in Africa and Asia. Ethiopia is the centre of origin and diversity for this crop.
Ethiopia is endowed with diverse genetic resources for sorghum. Many studies were done
elsewhere on Ethiopian sorghum genotypes; none of them provides the nutritional profile
of rich Ethiopian sorghum germplasm. The aims of this study were to estimate the genetic
variability of sorghum genotypes for yield, yield related traits, grain quality and
nutritional content; to estimate the magnitude of correlation among grain yield, yield
related traits, grain quality, and nutritional content; and to identify the direct and indirect
effects of yield related traits, grain physical quality, and nutritional contents on grain
yield. Hararghe landraces (186) and recently released sorghum varieties (10) were tested
in 2016 growing season at Haramaya University research station (Raare) by 14*14 simple
lattice design. In addition to fieldwork, nutritional profiling were also done after harvest.
All traits showed significantly high variation between the materials. The genotypes showed
considerable amount of variation in mean performances with respect to the characters
studied, indicating the scope for further selection thereby breeding superior and desirable
genotypes. The average mean for genotypes was 111 days (days to flowering), 177 days
(days to maturity), 67 days (grain filling period), 350.2cm (plant height), 104.11g (panicle
weight), 73.6g (yield per panicle), 21.91g (thousand kernels weight), 4.23mm (seed
length), 3.64mm (seed width), 2.45mm (seed thickness), 20.15mm3
(seed volume), 11.84%
(crude protein), 21.29ppm (Zn), 53.93ppm (Fe), 63.14% (starch) and 4.23% ash content.
Yield per panicle(29.02) had high Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV), followed by
panicle weight (26.36), thousand kernels weight (22.79), and seed volume (22.36).
Heritability in broad sense ranged from 35.31(Fe content) to 91.76(days to
flowering).High Genetic Advance as Percent of Mean (GAM) was observed for grain yield
per panicle (50.27) coupled with high heritability and high GCV, which is more important
for effective selection. Panicle weight and thousand kernels weight had strong and positive
correlation with yield per panicle. Days to maturity, plant height, panicle weight, thousand
kernels weight, seed length, seed thickness, starch and ash content had positive direct
effect on grain yield. For the variation seen among the genotypes, the first four principal
components (PC) accounted up to 69.88% of variation. Based on the genetic distance in
between, genotypes were grouped in to four major clusters. In general, from the genotypes
tested11 genotypes were identified as better by yield per panicle while 12 genotypes were
high in their protein content. The variation seen between genotypes showed the ample
genetic resource for further improvement. For future, incorporating genotypes with good
agronomic traits and good by their nutritional profile especially protein content in
breeding programs have to be done.