Genetic Enhancement for Grain Mold Resistance and Grain Yield in White Pericarp Sorghum Kumar Ashok, Reddy Belum V.S., Thakur R.P., Sharma Rajan, Ramaiah B., Rao V.P. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru-502 324, India Online published on 22 July, 2013. Abstract Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world after wheat, maize, rice and barley. Grain mold, caused by several non-specialized fungi is an important biotic constraint of sorghum and it seriously compromises the yield and quality of grains obtainable from improved cultivars. This study was an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of developing white pericarp grain mold resistant high grain yielding sorghum hybrids with stable performance over years. Of the 70 hybrids developed using grain mold resistant hybrid parents, 9 promising hybrids were identified and these along with their parents were tested during three rainy seasons (2006–08) for stability of grain mold resistance and grain yield at ICRISAT-Patancheru. From these, two hybrids (ICSA 101 × PVK 801 and ICSA 52 × ICSV 96105) with white pericarp, higher grain mold resistance and higher grain yield were identified that can be commercialized for food uses after testing for regional adaptation. The hybrid parents ICSB 400, ICSB 52, PVK 801, ICSR 89058, ICSR 91011 and IS 41675 identified in this study can be further used in developing hybrids with enhanced grain yield and grain mold resistance by crossing them with other parents with desirable agronomic traits and high adaptability. Top Keywords Sorghum, Grain mold resistance, Hybrid parents, Hybrids, Correlations. Top |