Assessment of genetic diversity in a large representative collection of Finger millet (Eleusine Coracana (L.) Gaertn) from India and Africa

Abstract

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is one of the most important grain and feed crops grown in India; and finger millet breeders are constantly looking for newlinepotential and useful germplasm for deployment in crop improvement programme. The importance of using exotic germplasm especially from Africa and the benefits accruing there upon has been well recognized. This has lead to initiation of many systematic studies aimed at comparing diversity in Indian and African collection of finger millet from the point of locating useful gene sources. The present study is one such effort where a large representative collection of 289 accessions originating from Africa and India were evaluated for their utility in crop newlineimprovement by assessing genetic diversity. They were grown in 17 x 17 simple lattice newlinedesign with two replications. Data collected from 25 qualitative and quantitative newlinecharacters were used for assessing the magnitude of variability present in Indian and African germplasm employing different statistical tools. The study revealed the presence of large diversity in both African and Indian germplasm suggesting that both groups of germplasm are equally important in crop improvement activities. However, it was of interest to note that the nature of variability was different in both groups making each group unique in their own way. African accessions were more variable than Indian accession especially for ear newlinecharacteristics. Further, the level of resistance to blast disease was much higher in African collection compared to Indian germplasm. The diversity assessment using newlineMahalonobis D2 statistic also further substantiated the presence of greater diversity in African accessions than Indian accessions. The study has helped in locating many accessions having utility in crop improvement. The availability of significant amount of variability in both groups of material for several yield and yield contributing characters suggests that germplasm of both regions are required in crop improvement.