Genetic divergence in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.)

Abstract

Forty-two finger millet genotypes were raised in alpha lattice design during kharif , 2019 at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute, Karaikal and the data were recorded on the 12 quantitative characters such as days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of productive tillers, number of fingers per ear, main ear head length, finger length, days to maturity, test weight, ear head weight, threshing percentage and grain yield. The analysis of variance revealed that there is significant variation among 42 finger millet genotypes for 12 quantitative characters. The mean data recorded on quantitative characters were adjusted to eliminate the block variation. Genetic divergence was calculated using D2 analysis and hierarchal cluster analysis in UPGMA method. Both methods of clustering analysis grouped genotypes into 10 clusters indicating existence of large genetic variation among 42 finger millet genotypes. Days to 50 % flowering showed the most diverse character based on ranking method in D2 analysis. Both the clustering methods, genotype 32 (FMV-1162) and genotype 14 (FMV-1175) were identified as the most diverse genotypes in the population. Keywords: Finger millet, quantitative characters, genetic divergence, D2 analysis and hierarchal cluster.