Genetic diversity analysis in finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.]

The experimental material comprised 36 diverse genotypes of finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.). The data on 12 quantitative traits viz., days of 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of productive tillers per plant, number of fingers per earhead, main ear head length, finger length, finger width, grain yield per plant, straw yield per plant, 1000-grain weight and harvest index were collected from a random sample of five plants for each genotype. On the basis of Tocher’s method, all the 36 genotypes of the present study were grouped into seven clusters. Maximum no. of genotypes (26) were included in cluster I followed by five genotypes in cluster IV, while cluster II, III, V, VI and VII were comprised by each single genotype. The inter-cluster distance varied from 115.74 between clusters VI and VII to 24.98 between clusters I and III. Analysis corroborated the absence of relationship between geographic origin and genetic diversity, as genotypes from the different area grouped into same clusters and the genotypes of same area were grouped in the different clusters. Therefore, breeder must evaluate their material for genetic diversity and should not merely depend on their geographical origin.