Study of gene effects for grain and stover yield in sorghum using generation mean analysis

Keeping in consideration the importance of sorghum in present day scenario of global warming, the present investigation was undertaken at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, during 2014–15. The nature and magnitude of gene effects through generation mean analysis was estimated for five traits of economic importance in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] viz. days to 50% flowering, plant height, 1000-grain weight, grain yield per plant and stover yield per plant. The results obtained from the study of five crosses based on five parents and seven generations viz. P1, P2, F1, F2, F3, BC1 and BC2 indicated highly significant differences between crosses (families) and between-progenieswithin-family, for most of the characters. Digenicinteraction (5 or 6-parameter model) was found to be adequate for all the characters. For plant height and stover yield per plant both additive and non-additive gene effects were important however for days to 50% flowering, 1000-grain weight and grain yield, the dominance gene effects [h] and [l] were important. Duplicate epistasis was prominently observed in all the crosses for all the traits which suggests greater effectiveness of modified selection methods like biparental mating, reciprocal recurrent selection as compared to single selection methods.