1Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 12.
All India Co-ordinated Sorghum Improvement Project, Regional Research Station, IARI, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-30
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
The nature of association between days to half-bloom, plant height and yield was examined in productive advanced generation selections and compared with the dwarf-early and tall-late parents and their crosses. The correlations, both phenotypic and genotypic, were considerable in the parental groups and the within-group crosses, while they were low or negligible in intermediate selections and in the between group crosses.
The direct and indirect contributions of days to half-bloom to yield were more pronounced than those of the plant height. The direct effects were also of higher magnitude in the parental groups and their within group crosses. The vital fole played by days to half-bloom in determining the yield potential was brought out.
Undesirable linkages and similar associations get dissipated in the intermediate selections from crosses between extreme forms. Thus, the intermediate selections, as revealed by correlations and path coefficients, have little or no association between yield components but have good yielding potential and’ represent ‘intermediate productive peaks’. Some promising selections from such productive intermediate populations with no association between fitness components are in the process of release for general cultivation.
