Muhammad Umar Hussain 1,2*, Tayyaba Noor 2, Abdullah Ahmad 2, Muhammad Sohail Nasir 1 and Mumtaz Khan 1
1Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan 2National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan
*Corresponding author: omee4777@gmail.com
Sorghum is the 4th largest cereal crop in the world with diverse flavonoid and phenolic compounds. It is resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Sweet sorghum is mostly grown for its grain as well as for the production of ethanol and biofuels. Sorghum is also the main food source with numerous health benefits. Plant growth and development are sustained by metabolites which include both primary and secondary metabolites. Sorghum varieties are characterized on the basis of morphological, molecular, and biochemical factors. Morphometric characterization is a simple and cost-effective method; however, it is greatly influenced by environmental factors. While metabolite profiling pinpoints the basis of plant morphological variations. Metabolomics provides a link between morphological and genetic factors. Moreover, it has applications in gene discovery via metabolomic quantitative traits loci (mQTL) identification. This study was aimed at characterizing three sweet sorghum accessions with characteristic seed colors. Phenotypic data related to grain-related traits was recorded. Flavonoid and phenolic contents of these accessions were also analyzed. Sorghum accession with dark red seed color contained higher phenolic contents as compared to the accession with white seed color. The study provides an interpretation of morphological variations in the grain-related traits of these accessions from the metabolomics perspective.