Characterization of little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth. ex. Roem. and Schultz) landraces and varieties for genetic diversity and association of traits

Abstract

Little millet is one of the least explored small millets and has several nutritional benefits with features of climate resilience. In this study, seventeen little millet landraces and varieties were characterized for eleven quantitative and six qualitative traits. The diversity of the accessions for quantitative traits with major contributors as 1000 seed weight and plant height grouped the genotypes into five clusters. Five genotypes each were grouped under cluster III and cluster V. The maximum inter cluster distance was found between cluster I and cluster II. Subsequently, cluster I had higher desirable mean for plant height, number of basal tillers, panicle length, number of branches per panicle and grain yield per plant while cluster III had early flowering. The qualitative traits viz., grain colour, panicle compactness and pigmentation of leaf sheath were also highly variable in the present material and were grouped into six clusters based on these traits. Hence, these highly variable qualitative traits could be employed as major indicators in the identification of these landraces. In addition, out of the fourteen traits, five traits viz., number of branches per panicle, panicle length, flag leaf length, flag leaf width and number of basal tillers, exhibited significant influence on yield through direct and indirect effects. Thus, these traits could be used as effective selection indicators for improving the yield parameters in little millet.

Keywords

• little millet landraces
• d2 analysis
• correlation and path analysis