Diversity and stability studies in barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea (Roxb). Link.) germplasm for grain yield and its contributing traits

Abstract

Nutritionally, Barnyard millet is an important crop, it is probably originated in central Asia and spread from central Asia to Europe and America. Climate change will alert an extra constrains as many parts of the country are becoming drier with increasingly severe weather patterns. Developing better barnyard millet cultivars is always placing as an important strategy in crop improvement. This study was focused to evaluate the phenotypic diversity and stability of barnyard millet germplasm for yield and its attributing traits. Diversity as revealed by D2 analysis indicated that the trait grain yield had contributed maximum towards the diversity followed by days to maturity. The accessions M5P1, M36P1 and M37P1 exhibited the highest mean values for grain yield per plant, but no significance difference was found comparing checks. Stability analysis revealed that none of the accessions were showed stable performance, indicated that influence of environmental factors played a major role.

Keywords

• barnyard millet
• diversity
• stability
• environments