Genetic diversity of Algerian sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) landraces by using agro-morphological markers

The present study was performed to assess the native Algerian sorghum germplasm,20 accessions originating from the South of Algeria and one introduced commercial hybrid were evaluated for 12quantitative agro-morphological markers. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p ˂ 0.05) between accessions for all characters. Comparison of means by Duncan’s least significant test separate accessions into several homogeneous groups. It was found that sorghum landrace Ai19 showed the highest scores of final height (317 cm) and biomass dry yield (38 tons), Ai13 showed shortest vegetative cycles by 75 days to 50% flowering and the highest exploration of water to accumulate dry matter. The first two-principle component showed together more than 76% of the total variation. Clustering analysis showed that the 20 accessions were divided into four groups, mainly differentiated by forage production, days to 50% of flowering, final height, tillering capacity and leaf characteristics. The current study demonstrates that the characterization of the entire collection revealed a great phenotypic variability within the accessions and showed those that have markers of agronomic interest. Agro-morphological traits were very practical in detecting variation between local and commercial hybrid sorghum. Landraces Ai19, Ai13 and Fr1, through their valuable agro-morphological markers, could be used in sorghum genetic breeding programs.