Abstract
Tef is the main cereal crop widely produced and consumed in Ethiopia and preferred by millions of local smallholder farmers. It also gained recognition as a food crop in other parts of the world very recently due to its gluten-free grains and its nutritive value. Lodging is the major factor which greatly reduces both yields and quality of tef grain as well as the straw. The current study was conducted to group the lines as their similarities and assess the magnitude of genetic distances among them; then identify the contribution of individual traits for total variations. A total of 49 lines were evaluated for 16 traits using simple lattice design at Holetta and Debre Zeit in 2017 main rainy season. All the traits evaluated over the locations showed highly significant differences among the lines except fertile tiller per plant, while the lines x location interaction effect was highly significant for most of the traits evaluated. Cluster analysis grouped the lines into four clusters based on their similarity. The highest inter-cluster distance noted between clusters two and four while the lowest was between clusters one and four. Principal component analysis showed that about 77.6% of the gross variance among lines explained by five Principal components with eigenvalues greater than unity. This study revealed that four recombinant inbred lines had higher yield than local and standard checks. RIL# 14 showed highest grain yield, low lodging index and other desirable traits than all lines, which could base and strengthen future tef breeding if incorporated as plant material; especially for lodging problem.
Highlights
Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] belongs to the family Poaceae, subfamily Chloridoideae, genus Eragrostis with binomial nomenclature of Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter
The number of clusters determined based on the pseudo-F and t2 values, such that the pseudo-F reaches its pick and at the same time, it is larger than values before and after it in the list, while the pseudo t2 is being at its minimum followed by large numbers
The different lines grouped with in each clusters assumed more closely related in terms of the studied traits than those lines grouped into different clusters
Summary
Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] belongs to the family Poaceae, subfamily Chloridoideae, genus Eragrostis with binomial nomenclature of Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter. It is an allotetraploid (2n=4X=40), self-pollinated with bisexual florets of chasmogamous pollination behavior, and C4 plant [1, 2]. Tef is the main cereal crop widely produced and consumed in Ethiopia and favored by millions of local smallholder farmers [7]. According to the Central Statistical Agency [8], the area covered by tef during the 2019/2020 cropping season was over 3.1 million hectares or 30% of the total area occupied by cereals in the country
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