MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN PROSO MILLET (Panicum miliaceum L.)
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Date
2023-12-04
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Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University
Abstract
64 elite germplasm accessions of proso millet were investigated for genetic variability, extent of association, direct and indirect effects and genetic diversity for yield components and qualitative traits. The morphological characterization revealed the existence of ample variability for plant growth habit, plant height, days to 50 percent flowering, panicle length, leaf sheath pubescence, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, test weight, peduncle length, basal tillers and grain colour.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed the existence of significant difference for all the 18 characters indicating the presence of substantial amount of variability and intrinsic genetic variation. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was observed more than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits representing G×E interaction. Moderate to high variability and high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean (GAM) was observed for characters viz., plant height, panicle length, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, fodder yield, grain yield per plant, harvest index, panicle weight, number of basal tillers, peduncle length, calcium, phosphorous, iron, zinc and protein content indicate additive gene action and scope for direct phenotypic selection. High heritability coupled with moderate GAM was observed for characters viz., days to 50 percent flowering indicate the role of both additive and non-additive gene action. Days to maturity registered low variability and high heritability coupled with low GAM indicates the mechanism of non-additive gene action.
The character association revealed as the days to 50 percent flowering, panicle length, days to maturity, fodder yield, harvest index, panicle length, number of basal tillers, peduncle length, test weight, calcium and zinc content recorded positive correlation with grain yield at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path analysis explained that panicle length, fodder yield, harvest index, peduncle length registered positive correlation as well as positive direct effects with grain yield per plant at genotypic and phenotypic levels. This suggests the effectiveness of these traits as effective selection criteria in improvement of grain yield per plant towards the development of high yielding varieties.
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D2 analysis grouped the proso millet germplasm into 7 clusters. The clustering pattern revealed that majority of genotypes consolidated in cluster III (20) followed by cluster I (17) and cluster IV (6). The clusters V, VI, VII comprised of 1 genotype each. Good plant height, good panicle length, early days to flowering, good days to maturity and high calcium content attributed to TNAU 202 (cluster VI). IPm- 2694 (cluster VII) had high harvest index, high panicle length along with high nutritional content; IPm- 2076, IPm-2093, IPm-2005, IPm-2278, IPm- 2517 and IPm-2288 (cluster IV) were with high panicle weight along with grain yield and IPm- 2782 (cluster V) was reported good at test weight and nutritional quality based on the cluster mean performance.
Principal component analysis (PCA) reported that the first seven principal components contributed 66.811% towards the total variability with eigen values more than one representing high magnitude of genetic divergence. 2D and 3D plots indicated that the genotypes IPm 2694, IPm 2093, IPm 2076 and Local check were divergent for yield and quality traits. Further hybridization can be opted between the diverse germplasm for introgression of traits and proso millet varietal development.