Phenotypic plasticity and drought resilience of sorghum genotypes under soil moisture deficit

Muhammad Irfan, Ghulam Shabbir, Zahid Akram, Muhammad Ansar

Abstract


Drought stress is a major abiotic constraint limiting crop productivity, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. This study evaluated the performance of 60 sorghum genotypes under three soil moisture regimes: control (100% field capacity), moderate stress (75% field capacity), and severe stress (50% field capacity). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed highly significant differences (p < 0.01) among genotypes for all morpho-physiological traits, highlighting the strong influence of soil moisture deficit on plant growth and development. Progressive drought stress consistently reduced plant height, leaf area, leaf number, fresh and dry biomass, relative water content, chlorophyll content, and cell membrane stability. However, genotypes S-2, 1863, and Sargodha-2011 exhibited superior performance across all moisture regimes, indicating their potential drought tolerance. In contrast, genotypes 74724, GD-65122, and 3484 were most adversely affected under water-deficit conditions. Cluster analysis classified the genotypes into three subgroups based on their drought tolerance potential, while correlation analysis revealed strong positive associations among key growth traits. Genotypic and phenotypic correlation estimates further confirmed the genetic control of plant height, leaf area, fresh biomass, and cell membrane stability, highlighting their importance as selection criteria for drought tolerance breeding. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights into the genetic basis of drought response in sorghum and support targeted breeding strategies to enhance drought resilience in cereal crops.


Keywords


Sorghum, Drought stress, Morphological traits, Physiological traits, Correlation analysis, Genetic variation

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.33804/pp.009.03.5794

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