Agro-morphological characterization of sorghum in Kibos of 200 sorghum accessions conserved at the Genetic Resources Research Institute
Sorghum is an important dryland crop and plays a great role in improving food security in many regions in sub-Saharan Africa. The Genetic Resources Research Institute, Kenya holds a large sorghum diversity, including the duplicate collection of African sorghum genetic resources. Agro-morphological characterization was conducted for a total of 202 sorghum accessions and 4 check varieties in 2021. The experiment was conducted in Kibos North (00.00’53S, and 34. 52’55’’E), Kisumu County, Kenya. It was laid out in a 15 x 12 alpha lattice design replicated 3 times, with each block having 12 genotypes. Characterization was conducted using IBPGR descriptors.
Midrib colour of the third leaf counted from flag leaf downwards taken during or shortly after flowering.
Observed 15 days after emergence
Number of days from emergence to 50% flowering
of main stalk at 50% flowering. Mean of 10 randomly selected plants. See figure 1
Susceptibility to lodging is taken before harvest on a scale similar to percentages.
Death of leaves and stalk at grain maturity
Overall agronomic eliteness of the accession
From 10 randomly selected plants. Mian stem is considered as one
See figure 2
At maturity, RHS colour codes are given in parentheses beside the descriptor states
Amount of grain covered by glumes. At maturity see figure 3
From base of inflorescence (head) to tip. Mean of five randomly chosen plants
In natural position at the widest part. mean of five randomly selected plants
RHS colour codes are given in parentheses beside the descriptor states
Average of 5 panicles in the plot
Additional notes
List of accessions included in the dataset