A Note on the Evaluation of Vegetative Growth of Six Sudanese Sorghum Genotypes under Pre- and Post- Flowering Drought Stress Conditions

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the morphological performance and variability of six Sudanese sorghum genotypes (Wad Ahmed, Tabat, Tetron, Red Mugud, ArfaGadamak and Milo) under pre- and post-flowering water stresses in afield experiment for one season (2015-2016). Seeds were sown at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture,University of Khartoum. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replicates. Water treatment was assigned to the main plots and genotypes to the sub plots. Pre-flowering drought stress was applied after 35 days of sowing by withholding water from the stressed plots for three weeks then irrigation was continued regularly until end of season, while post-flowering drought stress was applied after 60 days of sowing by withholding water from the plots until end of season.The tested genotypes differed significantly in most of the measured traits such as plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, days to 50% flowering and stem diameter under both pre- flowering and post-flowering water stress. Also, relative performance for most of the measured characters differentiated the genotypes Wad Ahmed, ArfaGadamak and Red Mugud as the most drought-tolerant genotypes. Depending on the obtained results, the study recommended the use of tolerant genotypes as donor parents to develop elite genotypes in breeding program