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.

From: Seed-to-seed early-season cold resiliency in sorghum

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

  1. ABC...: indicates significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) for assessed parameter within a category across planting dates.