Developing a mini core collection in finger millet using multilocation data

Publication Type
Journal contribution
Authors
Upadhyaya, H.D., N.D.R.K. Sarma, C.R. Ravishankar, T. Albrecht, Y. Narasimhudu, S.K. Singh, S.K. Varshney, V.G. Reddy, S. Singh, S.L. Dwivedi, N. Wanyera, C.O.A. Oduori, M.A. Mgonja, D.B. Kisandu, H.K. Parzies and C.L.L. Gowda.
Year of publication
2010
Published in
Crop Science
Band/Volume
50(5)/
Page (from - to)
1924-1931
Abstract

Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.], among small millets, is the most important food crop in some parts of Asia and Africa. The grains are a rich source of protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamins. A core collection of 622 accessions was developed. The aim of this study was to develop a mini-core collection
using multilocational evaluation data of the core collection. Six hundred and twenty-two accessions
together with six controls (four common and two location-species) were evaluated for 20 morphological descriptors at ! ve agroecologically diverse locations in India during the 2008 rainy season. The experiment was conducted in alpha design with two replications at Patancheru and in augmented design with one of the six controls repeated after every nine-test entry at other locations. The hierarchical cluster analysis of data using phenotypic distances resulted in 40 clusters. From each cluster, ~10% or a
minimum of 1 accession was selected to form a mini-core, which was comprised of 80 accessions. The comparison of means, variances, frequency distribution, Shannon–Weaver diversity index (H'), and phenotypic correlations revealed that the mini-core captured the entire diversity of the core collection. This mini-core collection is an ideal pool of diverse germplasm for identifying new sources of variation and enhancing the genetic potential of Finger millet.

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