Variability, Heritability and Yield Characteristics of Ten Sorghum Genotypes

Abstract

Ten sorghum genotypes were used to estimate variability, heritability and genetic advance for yield characters in sorghum. Wide differences were observed between phenotypic and genotypic variance for all the characters. The genotypic variance was lower than the phenotypic variance, but in most cases, the estimates were higher in magnitude than the environmental variance suggesting that character expression for traits was genetic. The PCV estimates were higher than the corresponding GCVS. The estimates of heritability and genetic advance were high for grain yield (g), plant height (cm), and panic weight (g) indicating that these characters are under the influence of additive gene action and selection of genotypes based on phenotypic performance would be useful in a breeding program.

Keywords: Sorghum, phenotypic variance, additive gene action, variability, heritability