Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity Assessment of Nepalese Fingermillet Landraces Using Morphological and Molecular Markers

This dataset contains raw and processed data supporting the study on the phenotypic and genotypic diversity assessment of 38 Nepalese fingermillet landraces using morphological and molecular markers. The dataset includes agro-morphological trait measurements, SSR marker allele-based molecular data, and metadata describing all variables and analytical procedures used in the study. The data were generated from experiments conducted at the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC), Nepal, during 2023. Morphological characterization was performed using an augmented block design with two replications. A total of 22 quantitative and 5 qualitative traits were recorded following standard fingermillet descriptors. The dataset includes raw observations and processed datasets used for descriptive statistics, diversity analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis. Phenotypic diversity analyses were conducted using standard multivariate statistical approaches to evaluate variation among the landraces. Molecular characterization was carried out using 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The dataset includes raw allele scoring data and the corresponding binary matrix used for genetic diversity analysis. Molecular analyses included polymorphic information content (PIC), principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), molecular cluster dendrogram construction, and population structure analysis using standard population genetics software. All datasets required to reproduce the analyses are provided along with metadata describing marker information, scoring procedures, trait definitions, and measurement protocols, ensuring transparency and reproducibility of the study findings.