Agronomic Characteristic Performance of Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor (L). Moench) Mutant Lines in Bogor District

Sorghum has a large potential to be grown and developed in Indonesia especially during dry season since it has wide adaptability and is more tolerant to drought than any other food crops. Research on mutation induction in sorghum using gamma irradiation have been conducted at the Center for the Application Isotopes and Radiation Technology (PATIR), National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN). The objective is to improve agronomic and quality traits of sorghum for being used as alternative food, animal feed and raw material for industries. A number of seven promising mutant lines was obtained. In dry season 2005 and 2006, those mutant lines were evaluated for their agronomic characteristic performance in three locations i.e. Muara, Cikemeuh and Citayam, Bogor. The original parent (Durra variety) and two national variety (UPCA-S1 and Mandau) were used as controls. Results showed that lines B-100 and Zh-30 have significantly higher yield (7.233 and 7.224 ton/ha) than the three control varieties (4.914 - 5.442 ton/ha). (author)