Evaluation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) Landraces for Drought Tolerance Using Morphological and Yield Characters under Rainfed Conditions of Sub Region Hagaz, Eritrea

Sorghum is an important food crop in Eritrea where it is widely grown in the mid and low lands, of semi-arid regions. Eritrea being the center of origin of sorghum, a large variability exist in its landraces being grown by the farmers since generations. In order to improve the productivity of sorghum under moisture stress conditions, it is imperative to evaluate these landraces for drought tolerant characteristics and their use for further crop improvement programmes. Therefore, a field study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications to estimate the extent of genetic variability of 20 sorghum genotypes for moisture stress tolerance using various morphological, phenological, yield and yield related parameters under rainfed conditions at Hagaz Research Station. Significant difference was observed for almost all the characters in the individual analysis of variance suggesting that these sorghum accessions were highly variable. Accessions EG 537, EG 1257, EG 849, EG 791, EG 783 and EG 813 showed promising results for post flowering drought tolerance, grain yield and stay green traits. Higher PCV and GCV were also obtained in parameters like plant height, leaf area, biomass, peduncle exertion, panicle length, and grain yield and panicle weight. The genotypes also exhibited varying degrees of heritability estimates. Characters such as plant height, panicle length, days to flowering and maturity showed higher heritability. Cluster analysis revealed that sorghum landraces were grouped on the basis of their morphological traits and geographical sites. 77.3% of the total variation of sorghum landraces was contributed by the first four principal components analysis having Eigen value > 1. Overall, the current study confirmed that EG 537, EG 849, EG 1257, EG 791, and EG 813 are drought tolerant sorghum landraces during post flowering stage.