Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Accurate varietal identification is important for maintaining genetic purity, supporting seed quality assessment and facilitating seed certification in sorghum. The present study evaluated the usefulness of seed morphological traits and simple chemical tests for differentiating sixteen sorghum genotypes. The investigation was conducted under laboratory conditions during 2019–2020 at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, India. The genotypes were characterised for seed size, shape, colour and lustre, and their seed coat colour reactions were assessed using potassium hydroxide (KOH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide–bleach tests. Considerable variation was observed among the genotypes for all morphological descriptors. Based on seed size, nine genotypes were classified as medium, five as large and two as small. Seed shape varied between elliptic and circular forms, with ten genotypes showing elliptic seeds and six showing circular seeds. Seed colour was grouped into yellow white (eight genotypes), grayed white (six genotypes) and grayed orange (two genotypes) categories, while seed lustre separated the genotypes into lustrous and non-lustrous groups. The potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide tests differentiated the genotypes into five reaction groups, namely light yellow, yellow, dark yellow, brown and reddish brown. The potassium hydroxide–bleach test classified ten genotypes with a dark-yellow reaction and six genotypes with a reddish-brown reaction. Among the chemical tests, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide showed greater discriminatory ability than the potassium hydroxide–bleach test. The results indicate that seed morphological characters, when used together with simple chemical tests, can provide practical supplementary descriptors for rapid varietal identification and characterisation of sorghum genotypes.