Evaluation of Germplasm Lines for Seed Quality Parameters in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn)

Abstract

Among millets, Finger millet is an important small millet grown in India. Recognizing the importance of millets, the year 2023 was declared as the “International Year of Millets” by the United Nations. In today’s world, about 12% of the total millet area is under finger millet cultivation, which mainly covers more than 25 countries of Asia and Africa (Amisha et al., 2020). In India, finger millet is mostly grown or produced in southern parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and hilly areas of northern regions mostly in Uttarakhand (Vijayakumari et al., 2003).  The aim of this study was to evaluate the germplasm lines of finger millet for their seed quality traits. Thirty germplasm lines of finger millet including two checks viz., Indravathi, Tirumala were evaluated. Observations were recorded for seed quality parameters and data was statistically analyzed. The Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant variation among tested germplasm. A wide range of variation was recorded among the germplasm lines for various traits studied and can be used for trait specific isolation for further crop improvement. From the present study, PPR-1397 showed outstanding performance in laboratory analysis of seed quality parameters such as root length, seedling length, seedling fresh weight, seedling dry weight, root dry weight, seedling vigour index-I and lowest in electrical conductivity. PGCF-16, PR-1643 and GE-4600 recorded high nitrogen and protein content. The promising lines are GPU-67, PR-1643, PPR-1397, IE-5870 and PPR-1304.