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Maize is one of the most important grain crop in South Asia and is produced throughout the country under diverse environments. Evaluation of maize hybrids under different stresses would be useful for identifying hybrids that combine stability with high yield potential for drought-prone areas. This study was conducted to evaluate 15 maize hybrids and 8 parents including 5 quality protein maize, 2 sweet corn and 1 baby corn to study the stability parameters for grain yield and drought resistance under varied moisture stress conditions. Among the treatments studied, irrigated condition recorded the highest and positive environment index for the traits number of grains per row and single plant yield. Hence, these traits appeared to be the most favorable for irrigated conditions. The induced drought condition was favorable for the expression of high chlorophyll content, protein content and total sugar content since it had positive and high environmental index. Hence, these traits appeared to be the most favorable for drought conditions. The hybrids QPM-6 x S.C.B.7853-1, QPM-13 x Co (BC) 1, QPM-14 x S.C.B.7853-1, QPM-18 x Co (BC) 1, QPM-18 x S.C.B.1457-6 and QPM-18 x S.C.B.7853-1 responded favorably under better environment, but failed to perform under stress condition. The hybrids QPM-12 x S.C.B.1457-6 and QPM -13 x S.C.B.7853-1 was specifically adapted to poor environments and suitable for moisture stress or drought conditions. The hybrid QPM-6 x S.C.B.1457-6 stable for all the 3 treatments and it is adaptable to wider environments. Therefore, these aforesaid maize hybrids are the promising genotypes in future for evolution of location specific superior maize hybrids for irrigated/rainfed maize growing situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finger millet is an important crop in the developing world especially in Africa and Asia. The aim of this study was to characterize 305 finger millet genotypes using multivariate traits. The maximum coefficient of variation was recorded for grain yield per plant. High variability observed for most of the characters indicated the scope of improvement of these characters by direct selection. Phenotypic correlation between grain yield per plant was highly significant and positively associated with days to flowering, productive tillers per plant, plant height, 1000-grain weight, flag leaf sheath length, days to maturity, flag leaf blade length and finger width. The principal component analysis revealed that the first 4 components with eigen value of greater than 0.65 contributed about 87.8% of total variability. The proportions of the total variance attributable to the first 4 principal components were 66.7, 10.7, 5.5 and 5.0% respectively. The characters including grain yield per plant, 1000-grain weight, productive tillers per plant, days to flowering, days to maturity, finger number per panicle, finger length and finger width were the most important traits contributing for the overall variability. This implied that these traits should be given emphasis in finger millet improvement program. Cluster analysis grouped 305 genotypes into 16 different clusters through multivariate hierarchical clustering. Cluster VII, X, XIII and XVI formed solitary clusters which revealed the presence of wide diversity for various characters among these accessions. The variability existing in the finger millet germplasm provide opportunities for breeders to select specific donors for genetic improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a preliminary evaluation of grain iron content in fingermillet using Perls' Prussian blue reagent, a stain for Fe3+ was established. Prussian blue solution of two per cent concentration was used in identifying grain iron content of genotypes based on the development of blue colour intensity. The rank correlation between measured grain Fe content and the colour intensity score was highly significant and positive (r = 0.62; P<0.01), indicating that higher the Fe content in the grain, more will be the intensity of blue colour developed. Pearls' Prussian blue method could be effectively used as an initial method of screening and genotypes can be scored for high grain Fe content. The grain Fe content of the same genotypes was quantified using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer method. Wide variation was observed in fingermillet genotypes for grain Fe content. It ranged from 3.46 (TNEc 0921) to 8.72 (TNEc 0601) mg per 100g of grain. The accessions namely TNEc 0308, TNEc 0407, TNEc 0601, TNEc 0788 and TNEc 0910 were rich in grain Fe content coupled with high grain yield per plant. Therefore, these accessions could be employed in the genetic improvement of fingermillet through hybridization or selection. This simple staining procedure could be used to screen genotypes with high Fe content in large number of germplasm accessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variability and correlation coefficients analyses were carried out in 305 fingermillet genotypes between 13 grain yield and yield related traits. Highly significant mean sum of squares due to genotypes and wide range of variability were noticed among the genotypes for all the characters studied. High values for phenotypic and genotypic coefficients were recorded for grain yield per plant and flag leaf blade length, indicating that more variability is present in the germplasm for these characters. All the characters recorded high heritability in the present study indicated that these characters were relatively less influenced by environmental factors and phenotypic selection would be effective for the improvement of these characters. High estimates of variability together with high heritability and high genetic advance were observed for flag leaf sheath width, flag leaf blade width and 1000 grain weight, which indicated that these characters were governed by additive genes and selection would be effective for improvement of such characters. Highly significant positive correlation observed for the characters like days to 50 per cent flowering, productive tillers per plant, plant height, 1000 grain weight, flag leaf sheath length, days to maturity, flag leaf blade length and finger width with grain yield per plant, indicated the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these characters by selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five barnyardmillet genotypes viz., Sadai kudiraivali, Pullu kudiraivali, CO (KV) 2, VL 29 and VL 172 were evaluated over five different environments to study the stability parameters viz., regression coefficient (bi) and mean square deviations (S2di). Variances due to genotype, environment, genotype x environment, environment (linear) and pooled deviation were significant for days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, plant height and grain yield. Based on the stability analysis, the genotype CO (KV) 2 was found to be stable across five different environments for days to maturity, plant height and grain yield. Hence, it may be recommended for the commercial cultivation in these five environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic divergence is a measure of selection of parents to produce potential hybrids and for isolation of transgressive segregants from hybrids in further filial generations. The objective of this study was to discriminate between 33 eggplant genotypes using multivariate analysis. The coefficient of variation was high for total phenols content and moderate in fruit yield per plant. Principal component analysis indicated that the first 6 components with an eigen value > 2 contributed about 80.61% of total variability. Magnitudes of the total variance attributable to the first 6 principal components were 32.74, 13.87, 10.68, 8.51, 5.52 and 4.79%, respectively. Flowering time, fruit circumference, fruit width, total phenols content, internodal length, leaf area index, fruit yield per plant and average fruit weight were traits contributing the most to the total variability. Fruit yield per plant, the most important economic trait, exhibited positive, significant, association with fruit circumference (0.557), fruit width, fruit borer infestation, total phenols content and average fruit weight. The distribution of genotypes from different geographical locations into 10 clusters was random, indicating geographical separation may not be the only factor causing genetic diversity. Cluster I contained the most genotypes (15) followed by cluster IX (5) and the minimum number of genotypes were in clusters II, V, VII and X. Intermating between genotypes of clusters I and IX would produce more desirable transgressive segregants for breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]