Genetic variability for Morphological and Biochemical Parameters for Yield and its Components during Summer in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.)

Author: M.R. Agavane, M.S. Kamble, K.A. Wagh, S.J. Waghmare and P.N. Gajbhiye

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Abstract

Finger millet is a small cereal in global food grain production but an important food crop for poor marginal farmers, particularly in India's tribal communities. In this experiment, thirty genotypes (23+7 checks) of finger millet were evaluated for quality traits to study the genetic variability parameters. These genotypes were collected from Zonal Agricultural Research Station Kolhapur. These genotypes were evaluated during summer season in a randomized block design with three replications. Observations were recorded on days to 50 per cent flowering, days to physiological maturity, plant height (cm), earhead length (cm), number of fingers per earhead, number of productive tillers, 1000 grain weight (g), zinc content (mg/100g), calcium content (mg/100gm) and grain yield per earhead. The treatment differences were statistically highly significant for all the characters. The magnitude of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation indicated the presence of good amount of variability. The GCV were lower than the PCV for all the characters, indicating the influence of environment on the expression of these traits. The highest heritability (b.s) was found for zinc content (0.99) and calcium content (0.97) indicate that the variation observed was mainly under genetic control and less influenced by environment. The character zinc content exhibited highest genetic advance as per cent of mean (32.01) which was followed by number of fingers per earhead (22.50). Calcium content, zinc content, number of fingers per earhead, earhead length, days to 50 per cent flowering showed high genetic advance as well as high heritability which shows that additive gene effects and selection may be effective

Keywords

Finger millet, GCV, PCV, Heritability, Genetic advance

Conclusion

Based on the present study, wide range of variation was observed for all the ten characters under study. The analysis of variance exhibited significant difference among all the genotypes and all the characters. Estimates for the genotypic coefficients of variation (gcv) were lower than the phenotypic coefficients of variation (pcv) for all the characters. Heritability (b.s) of all the characters in present investigation was ranging from -0.39 to 0.99 per cent. The genetic advance was found ranging from -1.59 to 56.47.Calcium content, zinc content, number of fingers per earhead, earhead length and days to 50 per cent flowering showed high genetic advance as well as high heritability which shows that additive gene effects and selection may be effective

References

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How to cite this article

M.R. Agavane, M.S. Kamble, K.A. Wagh, S.J. Waghmare and P.N. Gajbhiye (2024). Genetic variability for Morphological and Biochemical Parameters for Yield and its Components during Summer in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(8): 101-105.