Morphological diversity of local sorghum cultivars (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) from Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Sorghum is potential to develop on marginal lands in Indonesia, including
Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, despite very limited information on sorghum diversity in this area.
This study aimed to describe morphological variation and assess the value of genetic diversity
based on morphological characteristics of local sorghum cultivars in Gunungkidul compared
with new superior varieties. Exploration and sampling were conducted in Wareng Village,
Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta. Observations of morphological characters were made based on
sorghum descriptors. Similarity of morphological characters was analyzed using Simple
Matching (SM) coefficient, and dendrograms were made using Unweighted Pair Group Method
with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) method. Results showed three local sorghum accessions in
Gunungkidul with variations in 44 morphological characters. Genotypes S1 (Bioguma) with S4
(Samurai) and S3 (Plonco) with S4 (Samurai) had highest SMC coefficient (0.82), indicating
that both genotypes were similar in 82% of their attributes. Whereas, genotypes S6 and V3 had
lowest SMC coefficient (0.36), indicating that both genotypes were similar in 36% of their
attributes, while dendrogram results showed two major groupings based on vegetative and
generative characters observed. This study provides the first complete information on sorghum
diversity in Gunungkidul, useful to be basic information for future sorghum development in this
area