Genetic variability for malting quality, yield and yield related traits of Ethiopian sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] genotypes

Sorghum is drought tolerant C4 tropical crop with wide diversity grown for food, feed and beverages. There is a growing demand for food and malt type sorghum varieties due to the low supply of mat barley, climate resilient and gluten free nature of the crop. Therefore, this study was initiated to characterize the malting quality, genetic variability and heritability of sorghum genotypes. The experiment was conducted at Fachagama in Mehoni ARC, Northern Ethiopia in 2016/17 in α- lattice design. Data were collected on agronomic traits and 300g pure seeds of each plot were malted (18hr steeping, 72hr in 28 oc germinated and 24hr in 50 oc dried) for malt quality analysis. The genotypes Baji, Tseada Achire, Abare-1, Yeju, Dabar, Degalit yelow-1 and Degalit Yellow produced better malt quality; considering the most important malt quality parameters of DP, FHWE, CP, ET and MWL. High heritability ranging 85.00-98.99 was observed for all the traits, except for PH (77.83) and CP (61.42) which was moderate. Thus wide genetic variability, medium to high GCV, moderate to high heritability and high GAM (20.89-128.43 ) of DF, DM, PH, NPT, GY, TKW,KW, KT, MWL and DP indicating these traits were controlled by additive genetic factors and are important for sorghum yield and malt quality improvement. Significant differences among the genotypes for all traits found and those genotypes with sufficient DP and wort extracts could be used for brewing commercial beers and soft drinks.