The poor resource growers of southern Chhattisgarh have deprived of modern technologies of cultivation including externally managed inputs to augment the finger millet production. The low, negligible or no profit associated rainfed (aerobic) agriculture is still the only option owing to their socio-economic condition and physiographic location. The field experiment was conducted during the rainy (Kharif) seasons of 2011 and 2012 at Bastar district of Chhattisgarh with local finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) locally known as 'Mandiya' for assessing the sustainability of finger millet productivity. The soil was sandy loam, low in organic carbon (0.43%), and available N (178 kg/ha), P (21.4 kg/ha), medium in K (179 kg/ha) available with almost neutral (pH 6.8) in reaction. Application of fertilizer and manure significantly increased plant height and flag leaf length; N:P:K @ 40:30:15 kg/ha + 7 t/ha or 50:40:20 N:P:K kg/ha + Rice husk ash 4t/ha gave significantly taller plants, flag leaf length, tillers/hill, filled grains/finger and finger length than other fertilizer treatments along with Rice husk ash (RHA).

The present study was undertaken to study the extent of genetic variability, character association and path analysis in 53 irrigated late duration breeding lines for 12 quantitative and 10 quality parameters. Analysis of variance revealed the presence of significant variation among the breeding lines for all the characters except for total tillers per plant, effective tillers per plant, spikelet fertility percentage and grain yield per plant. The highest magnitude of PCV and GCV were displayed by grain yield per plant followed by harvest index, filled spikelet per panicle and 1000 seed weight. The greater extent of heritability in broad sense were recorded for days to maturity, days to 50% flowering, 1000 seed weight, plant height, total spikelet per panicle, kernel length, kernel L:B ratio, grain length, head rice recovery percentage, amylose content, hulling and milling percentage. However, high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean were displayed by plant height, number of spikelet per panicle, filled spikelet per panicle,1000 seed weight, kernel length, kernel L:B ratio, grain length, head rice recovery percentage and amylose content. Grain yield per plant exhibited positive significant correlation with harvest index, effective tillers per plant, 1000 seed weight, spikelet fertility %, days to maturity and days to 50% flowering. Path analysis revealed direct effect on grain yield were exerted by days to 50% flowering followed by harvest index, 1000 seed weight, total tillers per plant, number of spikelet per plant, effective tillers per plant and plant height indicating their importance in rice breeding programs.

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Molecular characterization of the genotypes gives precise information about the extent of genetic diversity which helps in the development of an appropriate breeding program. A total of 16 microsatellite (SSR) markers distributed across the rice genome were used for molecular characterization and discrimination of 100 local landraces of rice. The molecular data revealed a total of 24 alleles in 100 rice accessions, The number of alleles per locus generated by each marker ranged from 1 to 5 alleles with the mean of 1.5 alleles per locus and an average polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.387. This suggests that these markers could be potentially used for molecular characterization of rice accession from various sources. Microsatellite markers (SSR) are also used to detect the genetic similarity of accessions of rice under study. The genetic similarity coefficient ranged from 0.76-1.00 as revealed by UPGMA cluster analysis using the 16 SSR markers. A total of four distinct groups resulted at a cut-off similarity coefficient of 0.83 among the 100 rice accessions. Allelic variability among the SSR markers was high enough to categorize landraces and to catalogue the genetic variability observed for future use. The information about the genetic diversity will be very useful for proper identification and selection of appropriate parents for breeding programs, including gene mapping, and ultimately for emphasizing the importance of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in rice improvement.

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Little millet (Panicum sumatrense) a native of Chhattisgarh, belongs to the minor millet group and is primarily known as a climate-resilient and nutritionally rich crop. However, due to the lack of enough Omic studies on the crop, the scientific community has largely remained unaware of the potential of this crop, resulting in less scope for its utilization in crop improvement programs. Looking at global warming, erratic climate change, nutritional security, and limited genetic information available, the Little Millet Transcriptome Database (LMTdb) (https://igkv.ac.in/xenom/index.aspx) was conceptualized upon completion of the transcriptome sequencing of little millet with the aim of deciphering the genetic signatures of this largely unknown crop. The database was developed with the view of providing information about the most comprehensive part of the genome, the ‘Transcriptome’. The database includes transcriptome sequence information, functional annotation, microsatellite markers, DEGs, and pathway information. The database is a freely available resource that provides breeders and scientists a portal to search, browse, and query data to facilitate functional and applied Omic studies in millet crops.

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