HERITABILITY AND GENETIC ADVANCE IN RECOMBINANT INBRED LINES FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE AND OTHER RELATED TRAITS IN SORGHUM (Sorghum bicolor)

Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of the sorghum cross N13 x E36-1 were evaluated for thirteen quantitative traits at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India during 2007/08 post rainy season. The objectives of the experiment were to estimate the genetic coefficient of variation (GCV), heritability and genetic advance expected from selection. Highly significant differences were obtained among the RILs for all traits studied. Grain yield, stay green traits, panicle exertion and number of spikelets per head showed a relatively high GCV and PCV (21–34%). Comparatively high heritability (63-99%) were obtained from all traits except for green leaf area at 15 days after flowering(GLA15), days to 50% flowering and yield, which showed moderate heritability (52-57%) value. High genetic advance as percent of the mean were obtained from green leaf area at 30 and 45 days after flowering (%GLA30 & %GLA45(25-33%), green leaf area at flowering (GLA) (27%), plant height(26%), panicle exertion(17%), head length(35%) and yield(22%) among the RILs at 5% selection intensity, which indicated the possibility of improving these traits. Several RILs were identified that have exceeded the better yielding parent over the study period. Grain yield showed a strong positive association (r =0.34–0.83) with %GLA30, %GLA45, leaves number per plant, stem thickness, number of spiklet per head and green leaf area at flowering. Overall, the present results showed that a) the availability of genetic variance for some drought tolerance and other related useful traits in the RILs for exploitation through selection, and b) the availability of superior inbred lines for further breeding work.