CHARACTERIZATION OF BROOM SORGHUM ACCESSIONS USING MORPHO-AGRONOMIC DESCRIPTORS

The straw broom production is a traditional and very old activityamong small farmers in Brazil. Much of the straw broom production ismanufactured with native species, which in turn are in the process of beingextinct. The objective of this work was to evaluate the genetic diversity andto characterize one sample of broom sorghum germplasm constituted of 66accessions. The experiment was carried out in Viçosa, MG, in a randomizedblock design with two replicates, being each plot composed of one 5 m row,with 0.7 m spacing, where eight morpho-agronomic traits were evaluated.The studied accessions presented genetic variability for most of the traits.The accessions 2, 7 and 16 presented the lowest plant heights. Regardingstem diameter, accessions 7, 11, and 13 presented the highest values. Asto the number of days from emergence to flowering, the accessions 42, 65,and 66 were the earliest ones. Based on the evaluations carried out, it can beconcluded that accessions 2, 7, 11, 13, 42, 65, and 66 are the most promisingfor new studies and launches.