Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in Germplasm Accessions of Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn].

Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] is an annual herbaceous small millet crop with nutraceutical value grown in diverse environments. It is a crop of antiquity with great historical, cultural and nutritional importance, particularly in Asia and Africa. Utilization of diverse germplasm is important in breeding programme to improve the yield of the crop. In this regard, 224 finger millet germplasm accessions representing world collections were characterized for various quantitative traits adopting multivariate analysis. Wide variation was observed for most of the traits indicating their importance for direct selection. Among the quantitative traits evaluated, number of productive tillers had a significant positive association with grain yield per plant. Principal component analysis indicated that the first two principal components accounted 56.7 per cent of the total variability. Principal component analysis revealed that days to 50 per cent flowering, plant height, number of productive tillers, main ear length, number of fingers per ear and grain yield per plant contributed most to genetic diversity. Two hundred and twenty-four finger millet germplasm accessions evaluated for seven quantitative traits were grouped into 10 clusters. Thus, the grouping of accessions shall be of practical value to finger millet researchers to select and tap the genetic potential of elite accessions from different clusters as donor parents in crossing programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]