This study was conducted with the objectives of assessing the genetic diversity of
sorghum accessions that were obtained from different geographical locations in Ethiopia,
as well as South Africa, using phenotypic traits, AFLP markers, minerals, starch and
protein.
Twenty phenotypic traits were subjected to ANOVA and highly significant differences
were observed for all traits among accessions. Some important characteristics were
found to be significantly correlated, which could allow for selection of related secondary
characteristics to improve primary characteristics. Cluster analysis grouped accessions
into five clusters based on similarity. These results would be useful in a breeding
programme for selecting sorghum accessions to improve production.
Nine qualitative morphological traits were also analysed using the Shannon Weaver
diversity index (Hâ). The results showed that the average Hâ was 0.59. The highest
polymorphism was recorded for the glume colour (0.84), while the lowest was recorded
in panicle compactness and shape (0.31). This indicated that there was wide variability
among accessions studied. The cluster analysis for the qualitative traits also identified
accessions based on their similarity and differences based on their genetic distances.
Hence, visual selection and measurements of the sorghum attributes in field trials could
be used to select the desirable traits and improving yield and stability of the accessions
in breeding programmes.
AFLP analysis showed high genetic similarity of Ethiopian landraces, as well as breeding
material from the Ethiopian and South African sorghum breeding programmes, even
though the phenotypical characterisation showed high variability. This indicated the
possibility that South African and Ethiopian breeding material may have a common
ancestry. The morphological, AFLP and combined morphological and AFLP cluster
analysis clearly distinguished between all accessions, even though they were genetically
similar. Sorghum kernels were used to determine the mineral, starch and protein composition of
the sorghum accessions. The ANOVA of the traits revealed highly significant variation
among the accessions studied. Furthermore, PCA grouped accessions according to their
similarity/differences in the four quadrants which confirmed that there was variation
among them for these nutritional traits. Therefore, there would be potential for selecting
accessions for specific mineral and protein content for human consumption, and specific
starch and amylose content for industrial use. The sugar content of the stalks also
indicated the potential to develop dual sorghum cultivars where both the seed and sugar
can be produced from the same plants.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-10182011-124422 |
| Date | 18 October 2011 |
| Creators | Gerrano, Abe Shegro |
| Contributors | Dr A van Biljon, Dr N Geleta, Prof MT Labuschagne |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-10182011-124422/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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