**5. Worldwide sorghum biodiversity exploration efforts**

At present, extensive record is available on genetic diversity evaluation of sorghum using molecular markers. A review of global research on sorghum genetic diversity evaluation using morphological and molecular markers is presented in **Tables 6** and **7**, respectively. Most of the studies analyzed vegetative and


*Exploring Plant Genetic Variations with Morphometric and Molecular Markers DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95026*


This study revealed positive correlation among the allele number, gene diversity and PIC value. The ease of using these PCR-based markers for diversity evaluation, for allocating genotypes to heterotic groups, and for DNA fingerprinting proved advantageous for selecting biomass- related traits and for sorghum breeding

At present, extensive record is available on genetic diversity evaluation of sorghum using molecular markers. A review of global research on sorghum genetic diversity evaluation using morphological and molecular markers is presented in **Tables 6** and **7**, respectively. Most of the studies analyzed vegetative and

**Sr. # Sorghum germplasm Morphological traits References**

Perimeter length and Rectangularity

Five panicles average weight (g), Grain number/panicle, Height (cm), Hundred grain weight (g), Inflorescence length (cm), Inflorescence width (cm), Leaf length (cm), Number of leaves, Leaf width (cm), Leaf senescence, Main stem diameter (cm), Tillers diameter (cm), Number of tillers, Grain yield

Days to heading (DTH), Days to flowering (DTF), Days to maturity (DTM), Culm diameter (CD), Grain weight per panicle (GWP), 100 grain weight (100GW), Culm length (CL), Number of tillers (NoT), Number of panicles (NoP), Panicle length (PL), Leaf

Ten qualitative (Plant color, Stalk juiciness, Leaf midrib color, Inflorescence exsertion, Panicle compactness and shape, Awns, Glume color, Grain covering, Grain color and Endosperm texture) and 16 quantitative (Days 50% flowering, Leaf number, Leaf length, Leaf width, Leaf area, Internode length, Leaf sheath length, Plant height, Panicle length, Panicle width, Number of primary branches Panicle head weight, Grain yield panicle, 1000-seed weight, Threshing percent and Grain size) traits Dahlberg et al. [22]

Geleta et al. [23]

Bucheyeki et al. [24]

Shehzad et al. [25]

**5. Worldwide sorghum biodiversity exploration efforts**

1 94 sorghum accessions Area, Breadth, Circularity, Major axis length,

*No. of bands amplified by SSR primers in fifty sorghum genotypes.*

programs.

2 45 sorghum accessions including 34 landraces, 6 elite breeding lines and 5 improved cultivars

3 40 sorghum landraces from Tanzania and 2 from Zambia

4 320 sorghum

collection

**114**

accessions from more than 3500 germplasm

**Figure 8.**

*Genetic Variation*


**Sr. # Sorghum germplasm Morphological traits References**

*Exploring Plant Genetic Variations with Morphometric and Molecular Markers*

Mid-season drought tolerance, Mid-season drought susceptibility, Stay green lines, Terminal drought tolerance, Saline-tolerance, Saline-susceptibility, High Fe–Zn lines

Stem lodging resistance, Mechanical stability

Days to flowering, Days to maturity, Plant height, Grain yield per plant, Panicle length, Number of tillers per plant, Panicle weight, Panicle exsertion, Thousand seed weight, Grain-

Transpiration efficiency, the ratio of plant carbon produced to water transpired and carbon isotope discrimination of leaf dry matter

Inflorescence architecture Li et al. [52]

**markers**

markers

Allozymes and RAPD markers

analysis

filling period

*Studies on assessment of genetic variations using morphological markers in sorghum.*

**Sorghum germplasm Molecular**

11 124 sorghum landraces from Burkina Faso Microsatellite

2 415 sorghum accessions consisting of 391

4 100 accessions from a core collection of 293

elite breeding lines

sorghum

landraces, 8 standard varieties and 16 introduced

1 25 accessions of sorghum Microsatellites Djè Y et al. [54]

3 94 sorghum accessions RAPDs Dahlberg et al. [22]

5 45 sorghum accessions SSRs and AFLP Geleta et al. [23] 6 1 sorghum accession SSRs Wu et al. [57] 7 46 sorghum lines AFLP and SSRs Perumal et al. [58] 8 42 grain sorghum landraces SSRs Bucheyeki et al. [24] 9 40 sorghum genotypes SSRs Assar et al. [59] 10 320 sorghum accessions SSR markers Shehzad et al. [3]

12 156 sorghum germplasm accessions SSRs Sharma et al. [27]

Inflorescence morphology Olatoye et al. [49]

Pandian et al. [48]

Gomez et al. [50]

Birhan et al. [51]

Henderson et al. [53]

**Reference**

Ayana, [55]

Barro-Kondombo et al.

SSR markers Folkertsma et al. [56]

[26]

28 Seven groups of 44 parental lines of sorghum

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95026*

29 Recombinant inbred line derived from a cross between an elite U.S. common parent RTx430 and 10 diverse

founders

sorghum

31 210 Ethiopian

30 3 recombinant inbred line mapping populations of sweet

> genotypes of grain sorghum

32 55 sorghum accessions comprising 11 Bicolor accessions, 15 Caudatum, 10 Durra, 9 Guinea and 10 Kafir

33 21 diverse sorghum accessions

**Table 6.**

**Sr. No**

**117**

*Exploring Plant Genetic Variations with Morphometric and Molecular Markers DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95026*


#### **Table 6.**

**Sr. # Sorghum germplasm Morphological traits References**

traits

yield

height

17 30 sorghum accessions Days to 50% anthesis, Plant height, Flag leaf

Harvest index

weight and Grain yield

13 315 sorghum accessions

*Genetic Variation*

14 Two overlapping sets of RILs of sorghum

15 100 sweet sorghum accessions

16 Populations of sweet sorghum F4 families made by crosses between 11 tall sweet sorghum cultivars (used as males), and 3 short grain sorghums

as females

18 54 introgressed sorghum breeding

19 75 sorghum lines including 74 indigenous cultivars and 1 exotic cultivar

20 196 sorghum accessions

21 453 diverse photoperiod sensitive sorghum lines

22 194 *Sorghum bicolor* and *S. bicolor sudanese*

sorghum accessions

genotypes

24 329 accessions of sorghum

25 200 Sweet sorghum accessions from Serbia

26 98 accessions of South African sorghum

27 12 *Sorghum bicolor* genotypes (5 sweet, 4 grain and 3 forage sorghums)

**116**

23 93 sweet grain

lines

Panicle exsertion, Head shape, Grain color, Stay-green, Leaf color, Head orientation

Grain yield, Flowering time, and Stay-Green

Bioenergy traits, Protein content and Ethanol

Relationship between Sugar content and Plant

area, Brix percentage, Panicle length, Grain

Drought stress imposed at pre-flowering and post-anthesis developmental stages, Panicle area, Width, Percent green leaf, Total above ground, Dry biomass and Dry panicle weight

Glume color, Neck of panicle, Length of flower with pedicel, time of panicle emergence, color of dry anther, panicle length of branches, panicle shape and caryopsis color

Seedling vigor, Days to flowering, Days to maturity, Days to grain filling period, Plant height, Panicle exertion, Number of green leaf at physiological maturity, Panicle length, Panicle weight, Thousand seed weight, Panicle yield, Grain yield, Above ground dry matter,

Moisture, Plant height Fernandes et al. [42]

Root system architecture Parra-Londono et al.

Sweet grains in pasty stage Sawadogo et al. [43]

Seed morphology Sakamoto et al. [44]

Plant height, Plant biomass, Stem leaves, Panicle

Genetic variability, Plant height, Panicle length, Width and exsertion, Rachis number, Panicle weight, Seed weight, Grain yield Per panicle

Green leaf area (cm2), Plant height (cm), Leaf number, Fresh biomass yield (t/ha), Cane yield (t/ha), Bagasse yield (t/ha), Brix degree and

length and Yield of crude biomass

Juice yield (kl/ha)

Plant height and Seed number Jing Zhao et al. [34]

Sivakumar Sukumaran et al.

Da silva et al. [36]

Shukla et al. [37]

Mumtaz et al. [38]

Emendack et al. [39]

Prajapati et al. [40]

Derese et al. [41]

[4]

Bojović et al. [45]

Mofokeng et al. [46]

Kanbar et al. [47]

[35]

*Studies on assessment of genetic variations using morphological markers in sorghum.*



morphological traits for characterizing sorghum followed by maturity characters. Plant height is the most researched trait in these studies. Majority of efforts related to DNA fingerprinting of sorghum employed SSRs, followed by SNP and RAPD

*Exploring Plant Genetic Variations with Morphometric and Molecular Markers*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95026*

Most of the modern cultivated crops exhibit narrow genetic base due to domes-

, Fozia Saleem<sup>1</sup>

1 Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of

2 Department of Zoology, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

, Javaria Altaf<sup>2</sup>

, Samra Hameed<sup>1</sup>

,

, Farwa Ashraf<sup>1</sup>

tication, selection of few desired traits and repeated use of genetically similar varieties as breeding parents. Climate change poses a serious threat to agricultural communities with possible forecast of high temperature, water scarcity and altered pattern of showers round the globe. Climate variations and shift will be a key driver of crop production especially in arid and semi-arid rain fed areas of the world. Such effects will vary among crops depending upon their physiology and climate resilience traits of particular crop. Sorghum is a C4 grass cultivated in diverse regions of the world for variety of uses. It stands tall among other cereal crops owing to inherent biotic/abiotic stress tolerance and wider adaptability. It is among few climate smart crops with potential to withstand future harsh environmental conditions. Hence, development of high yielding sorghum varieties will contribute towards ensuring global food security. Breeders are exploiting high throughout phenotyping platforms as well as omics- assisted variability evaluation of sorghum germplasm to identify/select highly diverse types that will serve as a base line for breeding of broad genetic base sorghum varieties. So, dissecting phenotypic and

molecular diversity of sorghum germplasm is strongly justified.

, Muhammad Nadeem<sup>1</sup>

\*Address all correspondence to: bushra.sadia@uaf.edu.pk

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

\*, Faisal Saeed Awan1

Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan

provided the original work is properly cited.

markers.

**6. Conclusions**

**Conflict of interest**

**Author details**

Abdullah Bin Umar<sup>1</sup>

and Mariam Nasir<sup>1</sup>

Bushra Sadia<sup>1</sup>

**119**

**Table 7.**

*Studies on assessment of genetic variations using molecular markers in sorghum.*

*Exploring Plant Genetic Variations with Morphometric and Molecular Markers DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95026*

morphological traits for characterizing sorghum followed by maturity characters. Plant height is the most researched trait in these studies. Majority of efforts related to DNA fingerprinting of sorghum employed SSRs, followed by SNP and RAPD markers.
