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Phenotypic characterization of core accessions of grain amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.).

Authors :
Boro, Jutika
Kumar, Umesh
Yadav, Hemant Kumar
Source :
Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution; Dec2024, Vol. 71 Issue 8, p4793-4806, 14p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Grain amaranth is an underutilized pseudo-cereal recognized as an important nutritional crop owing to its balanced nutrient profile. A total of two hundred and fifty-one accessions of grain amaranth identified as core, from a pool of nine-hundred accessions, were assessed for phenotypic performance and genetic diversity across two locations. The establishment of the core accession aimed to reduce the dataset and enhance the accessibility of germplasm resources. This study primarily aimed to identify elite accessions exhibiting desirable agro-morphological traits and on the basis of their variability. ANOVA and diversity indices demonstrated a significant amount of variability for all the quantitative and qualitative traits. Traits such as plant height, inflorescence length, and seed yield showed high GA and high heritability estimates for both locations, with the lowest being observed for days to maturity. The accessions were grouped into four primary clusters with majority of accessions i.e., 92 (37%) belonged to Cluster-I for Loc1 while for Loc2, Cluster-IV contained majority of the accessions i.e., 94 (38%). Principal Component Analysis resolved trait variability into 3 PCs, accounting for 65.01% for Loc1 and 63.47% for Loc2, respectively. All traits, except protein content, showed a significant positive correlation and high degree of variability in both locations. The present investigation identified elite accessions suited to two different environments that have the potential for use in future genetic improvement initiatives for grain amaranth genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
09259864
Volume :
71
Issue :
8
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
180735840
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-024-01938-z