Revealing genetic diversity in finger millet [Eleusine Coracana (L.) Gaertn] germplasm collected from Uttarakhand hills

Abstract

Twenty-nine genotypes of finger millet including six checks namely VL324, VL347, VL348, VL352, VL315 and VL149 were used in the present study for estimating the genetic diversity. The study revealed highly significant variance in genotypes for all fourteen traits. The coefficient of variance varied between 4.62 and 14.41 per cent. Grain yield per plot showed the highest GCV (37.33%) and PCV (40.02 %) followed by biological yield per plot GCV (26.21%) and PCV (29.75%). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed in 1000 grains weight, grain yield per plot, days to 50% flowering and biological yield per plot. All 29 genotypes of finger millet genotypes were sorted into eight non-overlapping clusters using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. Cluster I and cluster VIII had the greatest inter-cluster D-value (19.80), followed by cluster I and cluster VII (18.72). 1000 grains weight contributed maximum towards the total divergence.