Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India.
Sorghum is one of the most important food crops for a large section of people in Asia and Africa and also a source of fodder for cattle and industrial raw material. In India, the area under sorghum cultivation is fast declining due to low demand for food, limited yield increase and poor grain quality due to grain mould attack in kharif season. Grain moulds cause both qualitative and quantitative losses. Quantitatively, losses in grain yield due to this disease have been estimated to be 30 per cent. Qualitatively, grain moulds result in mouldy and discolored pericarp, soft and chalky endosperm, reduced seed germination, decreased grain filling leading to reduced grain density and mycotoxin development leading to low price of produce. Hence, efforts are to be taken up by the breeders to develop grain mould resistant varieties and hybrids inorder to cater the needs of the farmers. Breeding for grain mould resistance in sorghum is difficult as it is a complex fungal disease. Information on the inheritance of grain mould reaction is required to facilitate breeding of resistant cultlvars. Tan plant type, hardness of grain and water absorption rate together furnishes useful criteria for breeding resistant types. The inheritance of hardness of seed and rate of water absorption are predominantly additive and selection for these characters could be effective. Higher levels of phenol and darker glumes also contributes to grain mould resistance. Grain mould resistance is generally governed by additive, gene action.
