ASSESMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN PROMISING FINGER MILLET [ELEUSINE CORACANA (L.) GAERTN] GENOTYPES

Abstract

An experiment with thirty five genotypes of finger millet carried out to study the nature and magnitude of divergence using Mahalanobis D2 statistics, in randomized block design with three replication. The data for eleven important quantitative traits recorded from the genotypes raised. The variability study indicated high to moderate phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation accompanied by high heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean for traits, grain yield per plant, harvest index, grain weight of main panicle, number of tillers per plant, flag leaf area, 1000-grain weight, number of fingers per panicle, panicle length and days to fifty per cent flowering, indicating their importance in selection for yield improvement. The 35 genotypes of finger millet were grouped into six clusters using Tocher’s method. The genotypes in cluster IV and cluster VI, exhibited high degree of genetic diversity. Cluster III was suitable for grain yield per plant, 1000-grain weight, grain yield of main panicle and harvest index. Days to fifty per cent flowering and grain yield per plant contributed maximum towards genetic divergence.