Abstract

Sweet stalk sorghum has been the subject of very few investigations in Burkina Faso. This study aimed to evaluate the variability of agro-morphological traits and to estimate genetic parameters as well as the correlations between quantitative traits in order to identify appropriate breeding strategies. Eighteen traits were evaluated in 29 sweet sorghum genotypes at Gampèla, using a three-replicate Fisher block design. There was significant variability in Brix, quantitative agro-physiological traits, except for stem diameter (pr.=0.22), and qualitative traits. Brix was positively correlated with plant height (r=0.37) and peduncle length (r=0.41). The Shannon-Weaver diversity index of qualitative traits ranged from 0.452 (exsertion) to 0.910 (grain coverage). The broad sense heritability of quantitative traits ranged from 21.64% (stem diameter) to 96.62% (peduncle length). Seven traits related to panicle dimensions, peduncle length, internode number and length, plant height, and leaf width expressed high broad sense heritability (H2≥80%) and high genetic advance as percent mean (GAM≥20%). These results offer opportunities for improvement by direct selection and could be exploited in Burkina Faso’ssweet sorghum improvement program.

Key words: Burkina Faso, Genetic diversity, Neglected Crop, Shannon index, Sorghum