All India Co-ordinated Sorghum Improvement Project, IARI Regional Research Station, Hyderabad, 500030
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
Genetic analysis of resistance to sorghum shoot fly based on large F2 populations from a diallel mating system involving exotic, Indian and derived lines as parents and gene effects estimated from generation means revealed that inheritance of shoot fly resistance is predominantly additive. Among derived lines 148 and 604 which have the tall and late Indian variety Aispuri in their parentage are tolerant to shoot fly besides being early, dwarf and high yielding. Based on their overall performance they have been recommended for general cultivation in parts of India.
There is a characteristic gradation in the order of shoot fly incidence from the susceptible exotics to the tolerant Indian varieties, the frequency distribution closely fitting the normal curve. In the absence of total resistance to shoot fly, selection under conditions of reasonable infestation in families where mortality percentages are one standard deviation below the population mean is likely to be effective.
