Table 7.
Morphological and yield related traits of sorghum lines with variable tolerance to early-season cold temperatures evaluated under three planting dates in West Texas.
| Category | Parameter | Early | Mid | Standard | Mean ± S.E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant morphology | Number of leaves | 15.2 B | 15.6 B | 16.6 A | 15.9 ± 0.08 |
| Days to anthesis (days) | 81.7 A | 67.5 B | 57.7 C | 68.2 ± 0.47 | |
| Plant height (cm) | 123.0 B | 134.0 A | 131.1 A | 130.2 ± 1.44 | |
| Basal tiller | 1.7 A | 0.6 B | 0.2 C | 0.8 ± 0.05 | |
| Nodal tillers | 0.2 C | 0.5 B | 0.9 A | 0.6 ± 0.03 | |
| Stem diameter (cm) | 1.6 C | 1.8 B | 2.0 A | 1.9 ± 0.01 | |
| Peduncle length (cm) | 9.5 | 8.9 | 7.3 | 8.5 ± 0.63 | |
| Panicle size | Panicle length (cm) | 28.3 | 29.4 | 28.8 | 28.9 ± 0.21 |
| Panicle width (cm) | 4.3 C | 5.4 B | 6.1 A | 5.4 ± 0.05 | |
| Panicle area (cm2) | 135.1 C | 162.0 B | 177.4 A | 159.2 ± 2.13 | |
| Yield related | Panicle weight (g) | 65.3 C | 72.4 B | 83.1 A | 74.2 ± 1.18 |
| Vegetative biomass (g) | 53.4 B | 60.1 B | 94.3 A | 70.2 ± 1.48 | |
| Grain yield (tons/ha) | 3.2 C | 4.6 B | 5.6 A | 4.5 ± 0.09 | |
| Total biomass (g) | 118.0 C | 132.3 B | 177.0 A | 144.1 ± 2.20 | |
| Panicle harvest index | 0.56 A | 0.54 A | 0.48 B | 0.39 ± 0.00 |
ABC...: indicates significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) for assessed parameter within a category across planting dates.