Morphological and molecular markers were employed to study the genetic variability among 40 sorghum landraces collected from Tanzania and two from Zambia. A total of 14 morphological markers and seven simple sequence repeats (SSRs) primers were used to (i) determine the genetic relationships among landraces, and (ii) assess important agronomic traits. Five principal components accounted for 73.60% of the total variability. There were positive significant correlation between yield and inflorescence width (r = 0.343*), five panicles averages and plot yields (r = 0. 531*), leaf senescence and inflorescence length (r = 0.355*). Negative significant correlation between tiller numbers and inflorescence length (r = -0.343*) was recorded. Cluster analysis based on morphological traits revealed three major distinct groups with one landrace forming independent cluster. Based on molecular markers, eleven clusters were observed. Sorghum controls, N13, Ochuti and Adiwo each formed independent clusters. Markers Xgap84 and Xtxp320 had high alleles than other markers. These had seven and eight alleles respectively. Molecular markers clearly separated landraces within and between groups than morphological markers. There were no genotype specific makers with the exceptions of Ochuti and N13 controls.
Tropical pumpkin is an important vegetable in many lowland tropics. Estimation of genetic effects for a fixed set of genotypes may yield information on the presence of different types of gene action for important traits. Six landraces and one diallel set of their progeny were evaluated for time from planting to female anthesis and fruit characteristics. Variety effects and heterosis mean squares were significant for the days to female anthesis, the weight of the first mature fruit, the mean fruit weight and soluble solids, indicating the presence of both additive and non‐additive gene actions. Only variety effects were significant for the days to the first mature fruit. These characters could be improved by recurrent selection. Selection for heterosis would be effective except for the days to the first fruit to mature.
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