Estimation of Genetic Diversity in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L. Geartn) Genotypes using D2 analysis

Finger millet is important for providing food and nutritional security, especially among resource-poor farmers, due to its resistance to harsh climatic conditions and high amounts of calcium, iron, dietary fibre, and essential amino acids. Increasing economic output is a fundamental goal of all plant breeding initiatives; however, direct selection for yield is generally ineffective due to its poor heritability. As a result, understanding the relationship between yield-contributing features is critical since it determines the success of selection procedures. The present investigation was undertaken to assess the genetic divergence of thirty-seven finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) genotypes using D2 analysis for fourteen characters, during kharif, 2024. The experiment was set up using a Randomised Block Design (RBD). The data were recorded from randomly selected five plants for each genotype for each replication for fourteen characters. The data was analysed with the technique of D2 statistics. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences with respect to all the characters viz, days to 50% flowering, plant height, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, number of tillers, fingers per head, fingers per plant, finger weight, finger length, biological yield per plant, grain yield per plant, harvest index and test weight under study at the 1% level except days to maturity, which is significant at the 5% level. This is an indication of the existence of sufficient variability for the traits. Following Tocher’s technique, the 37 genotypes were divided into five clusters. Cluster II was the largest one with thirteen genotypes. The maximum intra-cluster distance was exerted in cluster V. Inter-cluster distance was maximum between clusters I and V. The Cluster V exhibited the highest values for Days to 50% Flowering, Days to Maturity, Plant Height, Finger Width, Ear Head Width, and Biological Yield contributed more towards the genetic divergence. In Mahalanobis D2 analysis, three divergent genotypes, such as IE-190, IE-184, and IE-169, were identified as the most diverse genotypes in the population. Hence, these genotypes could be used in future breeding programmes to incorporate desirable features, such as high yield and high quality, into recipient finger millet genotypes, resulting in the creation of promising cultivars.