Genetic Diversity in Relation to Fodder Yield and its Components in Sorghum

Thirty varieties of Sorghum comprising indigenous and exotic material were subjected to multivariate analysis with a view to study divergence among them. Out of the five characters studied, viz., plant height, stem girth, number of leaves, length of leaf and fodder yield, length of leaf and fodder yield were found to be the major contributors towards divergence in the material. On the basis of Mahalanobis's D² values, the thirty varieties were grouped in seven clusters. In general, geographic diversity was not found to be related to genetic diversity. However, some of the varieties belonging to common origin were grouped together in the same cluster. Highly divergent stocks isolated on the basis of this analysis can be successfully exploited in breeding programmes aimed at the evolution of high yielding fodder strains.