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Seed priming with zinc increases the seed germination and seedling growth of many crops. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of seed priming with different levels and sources of zinc on seed germination and seedling growth of barnyard millet variety MDU1. A germination experiment was conducted with various Zn sources and concentrations viz., T1- Non-primed seeds (control); T2-water priming; T3-GA3 priming; T4-T6: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% ZnSO4 ; T7- T9: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% Zn EDTA; T10-T12: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% Zn citrate and the experimental design was a completely randomized design (CRD) which were replicated five times. The seeds of MDU1 variety were treated with different sources and levels of Zn for 12h and the seed germination study was carried out for 15 days. After 15 days, the germination percentage, speed of germination, germination energy, germination index and the seedling growth parameters such as, root length, shoot length, vigour index and seedling dry weight were recorded. Seed priming with 0.50% ZnSO4 performed better in increasing the germination percentage (99%), speed of germination (76.2%), germination energy (69.4%), germination index (3.91) and seedlings growth parameters like shoot length (14.7cm), root length (16.5cm), seedlings dry weight (0.44g), vigour index I (3099) and II (44.6), Zn content (21.9 mg kg-1) & its uptake (5.54 mg g-1). This was closely followed by seed priming of Zn EDTA at 0.25% and Zn citrate at 0.50%. From this study, it can be concluded that seed priming with 0.50% ZnSO4 could be used to improve the germination and seedling growth of barnyard millet which was also economical.

Kodo millet is one of the underutilized lost crops that has renowned nutritional and climate resilient traits. As a gluten free nutricereal, it is now being consumed in a fashion similar to that of rice and several value-added products are arising in the market day by day. Hence, this study on variability and correlation in M4 mutants have been carried out to favor superior varietal development in kodo millet to sustain nutritional security in future. In this study, around 635 M4 mutants were evaluated during Kharif 2019 on Millet Breeding Station of Coimbatore (India), with thirteen morphological traits. Among all, high PCV and GCV values were observed in plant height, panicle length, flag leaf length, seeds per panicle, culm thickness and seed yield. This presented the presence of genetic variability in the population. The prospects of effective selection with high heritability and genetic advance were exhibited by plant height, panicle length, panicle branches, flag leaf length, flag leaf breadth, seeds per panicle, stomatal number, chlorophyll index, culm thickness and seed yield per plant due to the presence of additive gene action. The correlation among traits towards yield revealed the significant positive correlation of all traits except for culm thickness and the highest associated traits were seeds per panicle and number of panicle branches. Therefore, these traits could be further focused for selection and improvement of yield in successive generations and other kodo breeding programs.

Aims: To identify the potential genotypes and the important traits for drought tolerance based on root system architectural traits and morphometric traits that can be used as a selection criteria in future crop improvement programs. Study Design: Completely randomized design for root system architectural traits and Randomized block design with two replications for morphometric traits. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Millets, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during Summer 2022. Methodology: The 33 elite genotypes were raised in polybags with two factors, one is genotype and other is treatment for observing root system architectural traits in completely randomized design. Also these genotypes were raised in the field in randomized block design with two treatments, irrigated and drought at early stage of the crop for observing morphometric traits. Results: Based on root system architectural traits, the significant traits were network perimeter, network surface area, network length and network volume. Under irrigated and drought condition, high phenotypic coefficient of variation and high genotypic coefficient of variation were observed for single plant yield, high heritability and high genetic advance for days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, leaf blade length, spike length, 1000 seed weight and single plant yield. Correlation study revealed that all the characters except number of tillers and days to 50 per cent flowering had positive significant correlation with single plant yield. Path analysis showed that spike length had positive direct effect on single plant yield. Conclusion: The identified traits for drought tolerance were network perimeter, network surface area, network length, network volume, days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, leaf blade length, spike length, 1000 seed weight and single plant yield. The identified drought tolerant genotypes were Nattu cumbu, ICMB 10444, 86M38 and PT 6752.

The study was commenced in a compulsion toaccomplish a successful approach in developing a commercially viable polyploidy variety in Jasminum sambac. Rooted cuttings of J. sambac cv. Ramanathapuram Gundumalli were treated with different concentrations of colchicine (0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20% and 0.25%) for 48 hours. The survival and sprouting rates for the different treatments were determined after 45 days of treatment and the phenotypic and stomatal characteristics of the treated plants were recorded. Colchicine treatments registered reduction in plant height (76.00 cm to 27.33 cm), internodal length (3.88 cm to 2.64 cm) and number of flowering cymes per plant (56.33 to 20.44) in comparison with the control. In comparison to untreated plants, polyploidy-induced plants developed leaves with larger stomata and lower stomatal frequency.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of various levels and methods of zinc fertilization in improving the growth and yield of barnyard millet at different growth stages. Study Design: Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: A field experiment was conducted in the farmer’s field at Pasur village, Coimbatore district from January to April, 2022. Methodology: A field experiment was conducted with barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea L.) var. MDU 1 by using different levels of ZnSO4 at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kg ha-1 as basal soil application and foliar spraying of 0.25, 0.50 & 0.75% twice along with soil test based NPK as control in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The growth and yield parameters such as plant height, SPAD index, root length, lateral root length, root volume, no. of tillers, panicle length, panicle weight, 1000 grain weight, grain and straw yield were recorded as per standard protocols. Results: Application of soil test based NPK + 20 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 performed better in increasing the plant height (157.0 cm), SPAD index (46.3), root length (21.1 cm), lateral root length (16.3 cm), root volume (3.80 cc) and yield attributes like number of tillers (5.06), panicle length (17.6 cm), panicle weight (29.2 g) and 1000 seed weight (3.89g) of barnyard millet. Higher grain (2606 kg ha-1) and straw yield (3411 kg ha-1) was also registered with the addition of soil test based NPK+20 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 which was 27.1% increase over NPK. Conclusion: Basal soil application of soil test based NPK + 20 kg ZnSO4 ha‑1 was found optimal and economical for improving the growth and yield of barnyard millet variety MDU 1.

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an invasive insect pest of India native to the Western Hemisphere. The pest damages more than 350 plant species. FAW is genetically divided into two strains viz. corn (C) strain which feeds mostly on maize, sorghum, etc. and the other is a rice (R) strain that prefers rice and other small grasses. In the present study, fall armyworm samples were collected from rice crop in two different places of Tamil Nadu, India during 2019-20 and strain identity was confirmed. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)- Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) profile of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I fragment confirmed the presence of both ‘R’ and ‘C’ strains of FAW in rice crop. Nucleotide variations were observed from PBS, TNAU isolate at five places and two places in Killikulam isolate. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PBS, TNAU isolate ON247930 (C strain) has completely diverged from Killikulam isolate OM491244 (R strain).

Agave amica (Medik.) (Syn. Polianthes tuberosa L.) is commercially propagated asexually. For the diversification of the crop, seed propagation is essential hence there is a necessity to study the seed germination for hybrid development. A protocol for in vitro germination of tuberose seeds was formulated. Two types of seed were utilized for germination in which the decoated seeds showed early and higher germination percentage than the intact seeds. Seeds inoculated on the basal media composition of half MS with gibberellic acid (1 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (1 mg/l) recorded minimum time for germination (8 days), higher germination percentage (89.33%) and minimum mean germination time (8.88 days). Seedlings growth were studied under different composition of shoot and root proliferation media. The MS media with naphthaleneacetic acid (2 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (2 mg/l) increased root length (12.33 cm), shoot length (14.80 cm), number of roots (13.23) and number of leaves (6.25). Under in vivo condition, the seedling developed from the basal media composition of half MS with gibberellic acid (1 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (1 mg/l) which sub cultured on MS media with naphthaleneacetic acid (2 mg/l) and benzylaminopurine (2 mg/l) showed higher survival percentage of 91.53%.

A study was conducted to understand the stability of seed cotton yield of 105 Bt cotton hybrids (BGI and BGII) using Additive Main effects and Multiplicative Interactions (AMMI) analysis across three diverse locations in India during rainy season 2018. This study holds importance as the hybrids were resistant to Helicoverpa bollworms due to Bt events (MON531 and MON15985) in them which were expected to nullify variation arising out of differential bollworm pressure in different location, unlike in non Bt hybrids where this variation also played role in the stability of the hybrids. The main effect differences among hybrids (41.23 %), environments (39.56 %) and the interaction effects (19.21%) were highly significant of the total variance of seed cotton yield indicating a large difference between the testing location causing different hybrids to perform differently across the testing environments. The first two principal components axes (IPCA I and IPCA II) were highly significant and contributed 52.12 % and 47.88% of total interaction respectively. The distance from the origin and the placement of locations in different quadrants of biplot reflected that the locations were substantially discriminatory as Aurangabad and Dharwad, which were high yielding and Raichur was low yielding. Results showed that hybrids IAHH-8096 BGII, IAHH-8103 BGI, IAHH-8061 BGII and IAHH-8007 BGII were having lowest interaction and stable across the location, whereas hybrids IAHH-8080 BGI, IAHH-8084 BGI, IAHH-8004 BGII and IAHH-8105 BGI were having more interaction and unstable genotypes. Large frequency of hybrids (57) were stable with IPCA scores nearing zero and low ASV values which is attributed resistance to bollworm due to Bt events.

Mutation breeding is the defined approach used for crop production and has played a key role in the creation of several varieties. The present research was carried out to induce mutants in kodo millet variety CO 3 using a physical mutagen (gamma rays) and a chemical mutagen (Ethyl Methane Sulphonate) for creating novelty. Seeds were treated with five doses of gamma-rays viz., 100 Gy, 200 Gy, 300 Gy, 400 Gy, and 500 Gy at BARC, Kalpakam and with three concentrations of EMS viz., 24.15 mM, 32.20 mM and 40.25 mM. In the laboratory test, root and shoot lengths of seedlings were decreased with an increase in the dose of gamma rays and EMS. In field study, the germination percentage and survival rate of seedlings were decreased with an increase in the dose of gamma irradiation and EMS. In M2 generation, five types of chlorophyll mutations viz., albino, xantha, striata, chlorina and albomaculata were observed. Xantha and chlorina were observed in all treatments, whereas, striata and albomaculata were observed only in 200 Gy. Based on the biological damages on M2 plants, mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency were estimated. Both mutagenic effectiveness and efficiency reduced with the increase in the dose of irradiation. Regarding height reduction and lethality, the dose of 100 Gy in gamma treatment and 32.20 mM concentration in EMS treatment recorded maximum efficiency. The mutagenic effectiveness was found to be higher at gamma rays irradiated with 100 Gy and in EMS, in 24.15 mM concentration. The 100 Gray dose and 24.15 mM concentration was found to be highly effective for inducing mutation in kodo millet.

Aim: Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affect the yield of crops globally. The present investigation was conducted to identify small millet genotypes tolerant to seedling stage drought stress. Study Design: The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications with genotypes and stress treatments as factors. Place and Duration of Study: It was carried out at Department of millets, Centre for plant breeding and genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during 2019. Methodology: Ten varieties of various small millets, CO 7 (foxtail millet), CO 4 and ATL 1 (little millet), CO 15 and CO 9 (finger millet), ATL 1 and CO (PV) 5 (proso millet), MDU 1 and CO 2 (barnyard millet) and CO 3 (kodo millet), were used for the study. In vitro screening of the seedlings in Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-induced water stress at four levels (0, -3, -5 and -7 bars) were carried out based on germination percent, shoot and root length, plant height stress tolerance index (PHSI), root length stress tolerance index (RLSI) and seedling vigour index (SVI). Results: Analysis of variance of the genotypes and PEG treatments revealed significant variation for genotypes, treatments and genotype x treatment interactions at P< 0.001. A declining trend for germination percent, shoot length and root length was observed as the stress levels were increased. However, at mild and moderate stress root length was slightly increased. Under mild (-3 bars) and high stress (-7 bars), CO 7 (foxtail millet) recorded the highest SVI percent over control values (165% and 65% respectively). Under moderate stress CO 4 (little millet) recorded the highest SVI (191%). The lowest SVI values under high stress, 4% and 8%, were recorded for ATL 1 (little millet) and CO 3 (kodo millet) respectively. Conclusion: Based on invitro screening of small millet varieties for seedling stage water stress, foxtail millet variety CO 7 and kodo millet variety CO 3 can be concluded as the tolerant and susceptible varieties respectively. Further a controlled field experiment may be carried out to understand the field level tolerance of the varieties and their growth stages to drought.

Background: Weeds smother the finger millet due to crop’s slow growth during the initial stages which reduces the yield substantially by 5-70%. Intensive use of herbicides is gaining popularity among the farmers now a days due to its effectiveness in controlling weeds, timeliness and reduced cost. Methods: The current field experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural university during kharif season, 2021 under irrigated condition with twelve herbicide treatments laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Result: Pre-emergence application of pyrazosulfuron ethyl 15 g ha-1 significantly reduced the total weed density and total weed dry weight at 90 days after transplanting over all the other herbicides used. This treatment also considerably improved the plant parameters such as plant height, total number of tillers, plant dry matter production, Grain and stover yield and yield parameters such as productive tillers, ear head weight of transplanted finger millet which was statistically followed by the application of pendimethalin 750 g ha-1 as pre-emergent spray. Similar trend was followed in case of net returns and B: C ratio. while lower plant parameters were observed with the application of tembotrione 12 g ha-1.

Globally, drought stress causes the negative impact on agriculture production. However, microbial inoculation is the suitable cost-effective technology to attenuate the drought stress. The aim of this experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of microbial inoculation on morpho-physiological characters of sorghum under moisture stress condition. A pot experiment with sorghum was conducted to access the role of previously identified bacterial endophyte strains. For comparison, two non-inoculated control treatments (T1: absolute control and T2: drought control) were maintained to compare the drought and inoculation effect. Drought was imposed at flowering stage and soil moisture was measure at frequent days. When the soil moisture attains close to zero, plants were rehydrated. During drought and rehydration period, plant morphological and physiological characters were evaluated. Drought stress drastically reduces the plant characters in control (T2-uninoculated) plant. Whereas, in the presence of bacterial inoculation considerably reduces the drought effect also Bacillus sp. inoculation treatment promoted better recovery during their rehydration process than absolute control. Overall, Bacillus sp. inoculation was the most promising bacterium for possible field trials.

Photosynthesis is one of the important processes, and understanding its variability can be one of the approaches to improve crop productivity. It is presumed that most of the minor millets have C4 type of photosynthetic carbon fixation. However, research on quantifying the variability in photosynthesis associated traits in minor millets is limited. Objectives of this study were to (1) quantify the variation in leaf anatomical, physiological and yield traits among the minor millets and (2) to assess whether photosynthesis associated traits had a relationship with grain yield in minor millet. The result indicated that finger millet, little millet, barnyard millet, proso millet, foxtail millet and kodo millet had C4 leaf anatomy, and among them, finger millet had an increased vascular bundle and bundle sheath cell size. Among the minor millets, at ambient light, temperature and CO2 levels, the photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intrinsic water use efficiency, number of major and minor veins, and grain yield were higher in foxtail millet. The CO2 response curve indicates that proso millet had a higher photosynthetic rate at higher concentrations of CO2 than other minor millets. However, the light response curve suggests that foxtail millet had a higher photosynthetic rate at higher light intensity levels. Among the minor millets studied, there was no relationship between mean photosynthesis associated traits over different growth stages with grain yield.

Phytic acid is a ubiquitous compound that chelates the micronutrients in food and hinder their absorption. Hence, breeding for low phytate content for producing stable low phytic acid (lpa) hybrids is essential. Phytic acid content in maize grains has been found to vary across environments and its stable expression has yet to be explored. In a view of this, forty inbreds were screened with two checks viz., CO-6 and CO-H(M)-8 across three locations. Twenty morphological and three quality traits were observed to identify the stable lines for low phytic acid with higher free inorganic phosphorous and starch. Among all the lines, UMI-467, LPA-2-285, LPA-2-395 and UMI-447 recorded a stable performance in both AMMI and GGE biplot analysis for low phytic acid (2.52–3.32 mg/g). These lines also had a higher free inorganic phosphorous, ensuring its bioavailability (1.78–1.88 mg/g). There were perturbations in yield, starch and seed characteristics of the stable low phytic acid lines due to their lower phytic acid concentrations. This stated the role of phytic acid in plant physiology and established the constraints to be faced in breeding for low phytic acid in maize. Among the lpa lines, LPA-2-285 (57.83%) and UMI-447 (55.78%) had the highest average starch content. The lowest stable phytic acid content was observed in UMI-467 (2.52 mg/g) and this line had severe reductions in yield parameters. Considering the seed and yield characteristics, LPA-2-285, LPA-2-395 and UMI-447 performed better than UMI-467. Although these four stable lines were poor in their adaptability among all the genotypes, they could be utilised as promising stable donors to facilitate the development of stable lpa hybrids.

Background: Productivity of sweet corn depends on genetic makeup and adoption of innovative technological interventions viz., planting density, balanced application of organic manures and fertilizers, herbicides etc. Nevertheless, the response to the aforementioned interventions may vary with different locations owing to varied climatic and edaphic and other management factors. Enhancement in productivity can be achieved through adoption of proper planting density and nutrient management as they play a vital role. The present study aimed to evaluate different sweet corn hybrids under varied planting density and nutrient levels for improving the productivity of sweetcorn. Methods: Field experiments were conducted during Kharif, 2019 and Kharif, 2020 to evaluate sweet corn hybrids under varying planting density and nutrient levels. The experiments were laid out in a split split plot design. In the main plot, two sweet corn hybrids and in the sub plot, two planting densities and in the sub sub plot, three nutrient levels were tried. Observations on growth, green cob yield and green fodder yield were recorded. Result: Based on the results of two years of experimentation, it is concluded that MISTHI recorded higher green cob yield (16330 kg ha-1), net return (Rs. 64931/ha) and B:C ratio (2.47) under 60 × 15 cm with 100% RDF (120:60:45 NPK kg/ha). CSCH-15001 recorded relatively lower green cob yield (15649 kg ha-1), net return (Rs. 61291/ha) and B:C ratio (2.38) under 60 × 15 cm with 100% RDF.

Drought is a major constraint throughout the world, and it creates a major yield loss by changing the plant metabolic process. However, the negative effects of drought on plant growth and development were alleviated by using plant growth-promoting bacteria. With these backgrounds, the study was conducted to identify the drought-tolerant endophytic bacteria and to know their plant growth promotion (PGP) effect on sorghum plants under drought conditions. From sorghum root, Acinetobacter pittii, Bacillus lichiniformis, Bacillus sp., Pseudacidovorax intermedius, and Acinetobacter baumannii strains were isolated and identified through 16S rRNA sequencing. These strains had higher levels of proline, protein, exopolysaccharides (EPS), 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase, indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA), and gibberellic acid (GA). An experiment was carried out in the laboratory to evaluate the effects of three drought-tolerant strains, A. pittii, Bacillus sp., and P. intermedius, on the growth of sorghum seedlings. Whereas root length (RL), shoot length (SL), seedling vigor index (SVI), and total dry matter production (TDM) were more in the Bacillus sp., and P. intermedius inoculated plants in both stress and non-stress condition. Principle component analysis revealed that Bacillus sp. and P. intermedius improved the growth characteristics and protect the seedling from water stress situations. A correlation study between the variables showed a positive significant correlation between all variables except root: shoot ratio (RSR) and SL. Variable RSR was not significantly correlated with GP, GRI, and SL; SVI and TDM showed a non-significant correlation with RSR.

Background: Kodo millet is an important drought tolerant crop and has high nutritional values, dietary fiber and antioxidant properties. It has considerable production potential in marginal and low fertility soils under diverse environmental conditions. Considering the importance of the crop, it is necessary to improve the nutritional quality along with grain yield of the crop. With this background, the investigation was aimed to study the correlation and path coefficient analysis which helps to identify the promising traits for yield and quality improvement. Methods: One hundred and three kodo millet germplasm lines were evaluated for 13 morpho-agronomic and two grain nutritional traits. The crop was raised in randomized block design to select the promising genotypes and to study the association among the traits and the magnitude of direct and indirect effects for fifteen quantitative traits. Result: Based on the overall mean performance the significant genotypes were identified and found wide range of variability for different traits. Character association studies indicated that days to first flowering, days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, number of productive tillers, peduncle length, inflorescence length, length of the longest raceme and thumb length were significantly positive association with grain yield per plant. Path coefficient analysis revealed that inflorescence length, plant height, length of the longest raceme, flag leaf blade length and number of productive tillers exhibited high direct positive effect on grain yield. Therefore, giving importance of these traits during selections may be useful for developing nutritionally superior high yielding kodo millet genotypes.

In the present study, an attempt was made to assess the genetic divergence among the 103 kodo millet germplasm accessions using Mahalanobis D² statistic collected from Millet Breeding Station, Coimbatore. The observations were recorded on yield components and nutritional quality traits. The 103 germplasm lines were grouped into 11 different clusters based on D² analysis. Cluster I had a maximum of 63 genotypes, followed by clusters II and III with 14 each, cluster X with four genotypes and cluster VIII with two genotypes. Remaining clusters IV, V, VI, VII, IX and XI were mono-genotypic indicating wide divergence from other clusters. The highest intra cluster distance was observed in cluster X indicating differences in genotypes within cluster. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters III and X followed by clusters IV and VII suggesting the use of genotypes from these clusters to serve as potential parents for hybridization. The characters days to 50 per cent flowering contributed maximum towards divergence followed by Fe content, Zn content and grain yield per plant.

Phytic acid is a ubiquitous compound that chelates the micronutrients in food and hinder their absorption. Hence, breeding for low phytate content for producing stable low phytic acid (lpa) hybrids is essential. Phytic acid content in maize grains has been found to vary across environments and its stable expression has yet to be explored. In a view of this, forty inbreds were screened with two checks viz., CO-6 and CO-H(M)-8 across three locations. Twenty morphological and three quality traits were observed to identify the stable lines for low phytic acid with higher free inorganic phosphorous and starch. Among all the lines, UMI-467, LPA-2-285, LPA-2-395 and UMI-447 recorded a stable performance in both AMMI and GGE biplot analysis for low phytic acid (2.52–3.32 mg/g). These lines also had a higher free inorganic phosphorous, ensuring its bioavailability (1.78–1.88 mg/g). There were perturbations in yield, starch and seed characteristics of the stable low phytic acid lines due to their lower phytic acid concentrations. This stated the role of phytic acid in plant physiology and established the constraints to be faced in breeding for low phytic acid in maize. Among the lpa lines, LPA-2-285 (57.83%) and UMI-447 (55.78%) had the highest average starch content. The lowest stable phytic acid content was observed in UMI-467 (2.52 mg/g) and this line had severe reductions in yield parameters. Considering the seed and yield characteristics, LPA-2-285, LPA-2-395 and UMI-447 performed better than UMI-467. Although these four stable lines were poor in their adaptability among all the genotypes, they could be utilised as promising stable donors to facilitate the development of stable lpa hybrids. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12298-020-00818-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Phytic acid (Myoinositol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 hexakisphosphate) is a ubiquitous compound present in plants. It is an important constituent in seed reducing the bioavailability of phosphorous and mineral nutrients when fed to monogastric animals like swine, poultry, fish etc. Hence, identification of maize germplasm with reduced phytic acid content is imperative to formulate the breeding programs to evolve low phytate lines. Towards this, three hundred and thirty-eight maize germplasm accessions available at Department of Millets, TNAU, were raised and screened for phytic acid content which varied from 2.77 to 16.70 mg/g of seed. Based on the variability present, a reference set with fifty-eight genotypes for phytic acid was formulated. The reference set was formed with random genotypes selected from the base population to follow a normal distribution (skewness; 0.17, kurtosis; 0.61 and K–S test for normality D(n) = 0.70) for phytic acid. The non-significant difference between the means of the base and the reference ensured the entire representation of the base in the formulated reference for phytic acid. Among all the lines in the reference set, the lowest phytic acid content were observed in the lines UMI-113 (2.77 mg/g) followed by UMI-300-1 (3.17 mg/g), UMI-467 (5.50 mg/g) and UMI-158 (6.58 mg/g) could be used as donors for low phytic acid in breeding programs. The principal component analysis for studying the extent of variability in the reference, revealed six major principal components that exhibited 80.40% of variation with flowering traits, ear height and phytic acid as a major contributor for variability. The characters namely plant stand, germination percentage, kernel yield, ear length, ear diameter and number of kernels per row were found to be positively correlated with the phytic acid and this emphasizes the negative pleiotropic effects of low phytic acid lines in germination and seed set. Thus this formulated reference set enables the breeders to handle minimum population for further grouping the genotypes to analyse their heterotic potential combined with low phytic acid.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is an important millet crop of semi-arid regions in India and Africa. To study the genetic variability present among the newly effected fifty four hybrids an experiment was conducted in randomized block design with three replication. Yield parameters viz., days to fifty per cent flowering, plant height, number of productive tillers, ear head length, ear head girth, test weight, single head grain weight, single plant yield and quality traits such as crude protein, crude fibre, beta carotene, iron and zinc were studied. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was greater than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters studied which shows the little influence of environment. High phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic variability (GCV) was obtained for plant height, single plant yield, single head grain weight, crude fibre, beta carotene content, iron and zinc. Highest heritability (h2) conjunction with genetic advance (GA) was observed for all the characters studied and moderate for number of productive tillers per plant and earhead girth Therefore, the presence of high variability among the genotypes can be utilized for nutritional enrichment in future millet breeding programs.

An experiment was conducted to study the yield traits under reproductive stage drought in selected small millets viz., finger millet (CO 15), little millet (CO 4) and barnyard millet (CO 2). The crops were imposed with drought during their flowering stage by withholding irrigation till the soil moisture reaches below 20 per cent. Barnyard millet performed better under drought at reproductive stage over other small millets, such as finger millet and little millet, in terms of more number productive tillers (11.16 plant-1), ear heads (12.99 plant-1), lesser reduction in ear head length (13.35 %), ear head weight (21.66 %) and 1000 grain weight (14.93 %) compared to well watered control plants. Little millet recorded the highest reduction in ear head length (19.01 %), ear head weight (39.64 %) and 1000 grain weight (23.26 %) whereas finger millet recorded the lowest number of productive tillers (9.41 plant-1) and ear heads (9.71 plant-1) under drought over control. Regarding the grain and straw yields of small millets subjected to water stress, it was evident from the results that the impact of water deficit at reproductive stage was prominent in little millet compared to barnyard millet and finger millet. Barnyard millet recorded the highest grain yield (18.94 g plant-1) and straw yield (42.12 g plant-1) followed by finger millet (14.48 and 33.14 g plant-1). Little millet recorded the lowest grain yield (11.31 g plant-1) and straw yield (26.01g plant-1) under drought condition.

The present study was carried out to investigate the diallel analysis in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) by involving seven parents and their 42 cross combinations. All the characters were predominantly controlled by additive gene action except number of sympodial branches, single plant yield and bundle strength. Non additive gene action was controlled for the characters sympodial branches, single plant yield and bundle strength. The parent BW4-1 had superior per se performance for single plant yield, boll weight, lint index, number of bolls per plant, seed index, and micronaire followed by MCU 13 which had recorded high per se for single plant yield, lint index, seed index and number of sympodial branches. The parent TCH 1726 exhibited positive and significant gca effect for single plant yield, ginning percent, number of sympodial branches, boll weight and plant height. Based on high per se performance and high gca effect, the parent MCU 13 was considered as best general combiner as it had significantly greater values for single plant yield, number of sympodial branches, lint index and seed index. The hybrids KC 2 × TCH 1726 and TCH 1705 × MCU 3 had recorded high per se for single plant yield, number of bolls per plant and number of sympodial branches. Based on sca effects, KC 2 × TCH 1726 showed significant sca effects for single plant yield and number of sympodial branches. Key words: Cotton, Combining ability, gca, fibre quality traits, sca, single plant yield.

Seed cotton yield and fibre quality are controlled by polygenes and highly influenced by the environment. Hence, selection merely based on yield is not effective. In order to enhance the yield potential of the cotton varieties, an understanding of the relationship among different characters is of more importance. Knowledge on the direct contribution of different characters to yield would be highly important for formulating a selection programme. Correlation and path coefficient analysis were carried out using 62 progenies of an interspecific backcross population (Gossypium hirsutum L. var. KC 3 x Gossypium barbadense L. var. Suvin) x KC 3. Genotypic correlation studies revealed that number of bolls per plant, boll weight, number of sympodia per plant, number of seeds per boll, seed index, lint index, days to first flowering, and plant height have a significant positive association with seed cotton yield per plant. Path coefficient analysis showed that number of bolls per plant contributed maximum direct effect to seed cotton yield per plant followed by boll weight and lint index. The highest positive indirect effect on seed cotton yield per plant was also observed through number of bolls per plant. This indicated that seed cotton yield per plant was highly influenced by number of bolls per plant directly and indirectly. Thus, a greater emphasis should be given to number of bolls per plant, boll weight, and lint index for increasing seed cotton yield per plant.

The present study was carried out to determine the combining ability of six sweet corn inbred lines and their hybrids and to ascertain the association between different biometrical and quality traits for increased green cob yield in sweet corn (Zea mays con var saccharata). Six sweet corn inbred lines were used as parental lines and they were crossed in full diallel fashion. The resultant sweet corn hybrids and their parents along with check hybrid were evaluated in randomized complete block design. The SCA variance was found to be greater than GCA variance indicating the predominance of non additive gene action for all the characters studied. Highly positive sca effects were noticed in the hybrid 45683x45508 for cob placement height, plant height, cob length, cob breadth, number of kernels per row. The cross 45684x45508 expressed highly significant and positive sca effect for the most important trait, green cob weight and quality traits viz., total sugar and non reducing sugar and possibility of commercial exploitation of this hybrid to be assessed based on its stability. The traits viz., cob length, cob breadth, number of kernels per row and plant height had positive association with green cob weight which indicates the possibility of green cob yield improvement through selection in favour of these correlated traits.

Kodo millet accessions 103 numbers were evaluated and characterized for 21 qualitative characters. The traits viz., leaf character, leaf blade pigmentation, panicle exertion, spikelet arrangement on rachis, panicle appearance, spike curvature, degree of culm branching, degree of lodging, shattering and grain colour showed higher variation and thus exhibits scope for selection of traits useful for breeding programmes. The traits growth habit, leaf sheath pigmentation, sheath base pigmentation, leaf juncture pigmentation, internode pigmentation, flag leaf at the second primary axis node, nerves on glumes, spike branching, spikelet density, senescence and grain shape showed no variations. Cluster analysis was carried out which grouped the 103 accessions into 13 clusters. Cluster III was the largest cluster with 39 accessions followed by cluster VII with 21, cluster IV with 13, cluster I with nine, cluster X with six, cluster IX with four, cluster V with three, cluster II and VIII with two accessions each and clusters VI, XI, XII and XIII with one accession each. The genotypes within the same cluster considered to have the similar phenotypic characters. And the genotypes between the clusters are more diverse ones. Therefore, the genotypes of most diverse cluster may be used as parents in hybridization programmes to develop high yielding varieties.

A high yielding and early maturing Samai TNPsu 177 was developed at the Centre of Excellence In Millets, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Athiyandal and released as ATL 1. It is a derivative of CO(Samai) 4 x TNAU 141 with 1587 kg/ha grain yield and 3109 Kg/ha of straw yield in 85-90 days under rainfed condition. Being a short duration variety, this variety fits well in the existing double cropping rainfed condition of North, North western and western zones of Tamil Nadu. Samai is grown in June- July as a preceding crop to horsegram in more than 80,000 ha. It has yield advantage of 11.2 and13.7 percent for grain yield while11.8 - 14.4 percent for straw yield over the check varieties viz.,CO(Samai) 4 and Paiyur 2. Samai line TNPsu 177 has strong and sturdy culm with long, semi-compact panicles and drought tolerance. The plant has 6- 8 productive tillers and non-shattering grains. It has special attributes like easy threshability, synchronous maturity and nonlodging growth habit. The grains are bold with attractive golden yellow colour. In view of stable yield performance across seasons and locations, special attributes and drought tolerance, Samai TNPsu 177 is proposed for release as ATL 1 to fulfill the long felt need of the drylands, hilly and tribal areas in Dharmapuri, Thiruvannamalai, Vellore, Salem and Krishnagiri districts of Tamil Nadu where samai is predominantly grown under rainfed condition

Phytic acid is a major constraint in affecting the nutritional concerns of the people feeding on maize. Being a strong negatively charged chelator, this compound binds all the positively charged minerals like iron and zinc. It also acts as a major storage compound of phosphorous. Thus monogastric animals lacking phytase, fails to absorb these minerals and is considered as a antinutritional factor. This experiment was conducted to identify the potential donors for low phytic acid to produce hybrids with moderate phytic acid content. With this objective a reference set for phytate (2-16 mg/g) formed from a base population was screened. A D2 analysis in the reference set was done and this classified the genotypes into eight clusters. The genotypes with low phytate were grouped in cluster 4. Highest significant variability was observed for all the traits including phytic acid. Cob weight followed by phytic acid had a highest heritability with high genetic advance as percent of mean indicating the effectiveness of selection for these traits due to the presence of additive gene action. Among the six low phytate lines observed, UMI-113 had lowest phytate content of 2.77 mg/g. These six low phytate genotypes classified in cluster 4 were then selected as testers and were crossed to four elite lines. Among the 24 hybrids produced, three hybrids., UMI 1200 x UMI 1099, UMI 1201 x UMI 1099 and UMI 1210 x UMI 1099 yielded higher than the standard check with medium levels of phytic acid ranging from 10.23-10.46 mg/g. The line UMI-1099 was found be a good general combiner for yield related traits with a negative combining ability for phytic acid. Hence this line could be successfully used in low phytate breeding programs and these identified hybrids could be further used in poultry testing trials for analyzing the bioavailability of nutrients.

The present investigation was conducted to explore the genetic variability, character association and path analysis for yield and yield component traits in maize. One hundred maize inbred lines obtained from Department of millets, TNAU were raised along with five checks in Augmented block design II and observations were recorded on twenty morphological traits. Analysis of variance showed significant genotypic variance for all the characters. High PCV, GCV heritability and genetic advance as percentage of mean were recorded for anthesis silking interval, number of tassel branches, number of kernels per row, grain yield per plant, cob weight, ear height and number kernel rows per cob. This indicated the effectiveness of selection towards these traits. Critical analysis of results obtained from character association indicated that grain yield per plant had positive significant association with cob weight, cob girth, number of kernels per row plant height, cob length, ear height, 100 kernel weight, tassel length and chlorophyll index. Thus selection for these traits could bring about an improvement in yield attributes of maize. Path analysis for the attributed traits revealed the direct influence of cob girth followed by number of kernels per row, shelling percentage, days to 50 percent silking and ear height on grain yield. Hence these traits could be used as an effective selection indicator to identify the elite genotypes from a population.

The current investigation was done to understand the role of phytic acid and its contribution to yield and yield attributing traits in maize. Phytic acid is an anti-nutritional factor involved in chelating phosphorus and other micronutrients in food. On contrary, it is a major regulator of the metabolic pathways in plants. This study involved the correlation and path analysis of nineteen morphological and two biochemical traits with phytic acid as the dependent factor. A significant positive correlation of seed girth, seed thickness, hundred seed weight, cob weight, starch content and single plant yield with phytic acid were observed. This elaborated the essentiality of phytic acid in seed set and pollination in maize. Consequently, this study also ensured the increase in free inorganic phosphorous content in reduced phytic acid lines through their negative association and revealed its chelating ability in foods. Further the path analysis established highest positive direct effect of single plant yield, seed girth, cob placement height, cob weight, days to 50 percent silking and cob girth towards the phytic acid content in maize. This reinforces the direct contribution of phytic acid in crop development. The correlation also encompasses the role of phytic acid in starch accumulation and seed thickness in maize by means of their positive association. Therefore, from this study it could be concluded that phytic acid has a functional relationship with the major yield contributing traits in maize. Hence proper selection criteria have to be followed for producing elite lines with low phytic acid in maize.

Phytic acid is an abhorrent anti-nutritional factor ascertaining several micronutrient deficiencies to monogastric animals by their chelating ability. Hence, screening of germplasm accessions by a rapid assay is necessary to identify the potential donors for low phytic acid in maize. This compound involves in a complex pathway inhabiting the role of several genes, establishes the difficulties in the molecular screening and elaborates the importance of an initial rapid assay in facilitating the screening of germplasm resources. Although, several methods have been followed for phytic acid content estimation, the direct estimation of phytic acid by Megazyme kit is found to be more precise than any other methods adopted. This Megazyme kit utilizes the natural phytase enzyme to liberate the free phosphorous from the samples and measures the phytate phosphorous content. But, estimating by this kit increases the cost of estimation while going for screening of a large number of samples. Thus an alternate rapid method that estimates the phytic acid content with a similar efficiency to this Megazyme assay has to be followed to facilitate the screening in a larger population. Among all the known methods, the Indirect assay described by Davies and Reid (1979) is found to be rapid and easy to be carried out in the initial screening of germplasm resources. Hence, a comparative study of phytic acid content estimated by these two protocols in a set of fifty-eight lines were subjected to a chi-square and paired t test. The phytic acid estimated by direct assay ranged from 2.04 to 15.59 mg/g and by indirect assay the range was observed from 2.77 to 16.70 mg/g. Although there were minor variations, there was not much difference observed between the two protocols. The chi- square test revealed a perfect goodness of fit between the protocols ( 2Calculated< 2 Table). Simultaneously, the paired t test between the means of phytic acid estimated from two protocols also exhibited a null difference (t calculated < t table) among them. Thus, we can conclude that the rapid indirect assay described by Davies and Reid (1979) could be effectively followed for initial screening of large number of germplasm accessions to identify the spontaneous donors of low phytic acid content in maize.

The number of genes controlling the traits and the nature of gene action are the important criteria for the selection of individual traits in a segregating population. The current study is focused to analyze the skewness and kurtosis in the backcross population of UMI1200β+ × HKI163 and UMI1230β+ × HKI163. The BC2F2 population showed positive skewness and platykurtic distribution for plant height. In the present study the dominant × dominant based complementary gene action played a role and more number of genes controlled the plant height. Hence, rigorous selection is needed to achieve the genetic gain in the later generation. The negative skewness and platykurtic distribution was recorded for single plant yield in UMI1200β+ × HKI163 which indicated the duplicate gene action and required mild selection to fix the individual traits for rapid genetic gain.