Identification of B and R lines on maldandi cytoplasm and assessing their genetic diversity in rabi sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]

Fifty-four superior minicore collections were crossed with maldandi based male sterile line (M31-2A) to study restoration patterns and to classify maintainer (B) and restorer (R) lines. Of 54 mini core collections, only one came out as a strong restorer (IS 19450), 12 partial restorers and 41 maintainers. Further, these 13 partial restorers (12 partial restorers and 1 strong restorer) and 41 maintainers along with M35-1 were subjected to diversity analysis for eleven characters. A total of 55 genotypes were clustered into seven clusters. Out of which, cluster-I and cluster-II had 34 and 16 genotypes, respectively, and five were solitary clusters having single genotypes. The highest inter-cluster distance was noted between cluster-VI and VII followed by cluster V and VI, and cluster-II and VII, indicating ample diversity available among them. Therefore, the genotypes of these clusters can be used as parents for crossing in the hybridization program to obtain desirable and excellent segregants. However, divergent maintainers against the strong restorer (IS 19450) can be used for the development of maldandi based hybrids.