Variability for Productivity and Nutritional Traits in Germplasm of Kodo Millet, an Underutilized Nutrient‐Rich Climate Smart Crop

Abstract

Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.) is an important drought‐tolerant crop cultivated on marginal soils under diverse environmental conditions. Its grains are nutritionally superior to those of major cereals. Knowledge of the variability in agronomic and nutritional traits is important to identify germplasm for use in crop improvement and by farmers. Two hundred kodo millet accessions were evaluated in 2 yr during the rainy season to assess variability for morphoagronomic and grain nutritional traits and to identify high grain‐yielding and nutrient‐rich accessions. Large variability was observed for important traits including days to maturity, grain yield, and Fe, Zn, Ca, and protein content with moderate to high heritability. Three kodo millet races did not differ significantly for grain yield or Fe, Zn, Ca, and protein content. For Zn, Fe, protein, and Ca, 78.5, 75.0, 67.5, and 54.0% of accessions, respectively, were consistent between the years, indicating the relative sensitivity of these nutrients to the environment and genotype × environment interaction. Considering data of both the years separately, 50 promising trait‐specific accessions were identified, including those for early maturity (8 accessions), greater 100‐seed weight (10), high grain yield (15), Fe (8), Zn (14), Ca (6) and protein content (7), and 10 with a combination of agronomic and nutritional traits. The extensive multilocation evaluation of these high‐yielding, nutrient‐rich accessions would be useful to identify promising genotypes for direct cultivar release or for use in crop improvement to contribute to the food and nutritional security of resource‐poor farmers in a changing climate scenario.