Genetic variability and multivariate analysis in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) germplasm for dual purpose

Abstract

Genetic variability and diversity in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.) was studied with 104 germplasm accessions of different origin. Analysis of variance indicated significant variances among the accessions for all the characters studied. The maximum variation was recorded for number of tillers, number of leaves, leaf length and breadth, panicle length, leaf weight, stem weight, leaf stem ratio, green fodder yield, crude protein content and grain yield indicates the possibilities of improving these characters through phenotypic selection for the development of dual purpose cultivars (grain cum fodder yield). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance of percentage of mean was observed for all characters except days to 50% flowering suggesting that these traits are governed by additive gene action and possibility of improving these characters through selection. Based on the D 2 analysis all the accessions were grouped into twelve clusters. Cluster I retain the maximum accessions of 82 and nine clusters retained only one accession each. The intra cluster distance ranged from 0.00 to 6.71 and the inter cluster distance was recorded highest between cluster XI and cluster XII. Cluster XII exhibited maximum mean value for five characters. Based on the relative contribution, plant height contributed more towards genetic divergence.

Molecular Characterization and Genetic Diversity Analysis of Released Hybrids and Varieties of Pearl Millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

“…It has been proved that SSRs can be suitable and efficient tool for molecular characterization of many plant species including pearl millet. Similarly, clustering between genotypes of pearl millet based on molecular markers was also recorded in other studies [11,17,[44][45][46].…”

Characterization and comparative analyses of genetic divergence for identification of diverse parents on napier grass germplasm (Pennisetum purpureum L. Schumach)

“…Cluster I was the largest and turned out to be an accommodative for maximum number of genotypes. Similar results were reported by Shanmuganathan et al (2006) in pearl millet, Ramakrishnan et al (2013) in guinea grass, Krishna et al (2014) in forage oat and Damor et al (2017) in forage sorghum. It consisted of 31 genotypes followed by Cluster II and cluster VI with 11 and 6 genotypes respectively.…”

Genetic Diversity Analysis among Inbred Lines of Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] Based on Grain Yield and Yield Component Characters

“…The remaining characters contributed less genetic divergence indicating narrow genetic diversity for those characters. Shanmuganathan et al, (2006) and Kumar et al, (2015) reported similar results in Pearl millet. The distribution pattern of inbred lines on canonical graph matched mostly with the clustering pattern of hierarchical cluster analysis with few exceptions.…”

“…The preliminary evaluation of breeding material to identify potent parents for hybridization programme based on phenotypic data is fast, simple and can be considered as a general approach for assessing genetic diversity among genetically diverse lines. Likewise, grouping of genetic material based on quantitative data in pearl millet was reported by Shanmuganathan et al, (2006), Vidhyadhar and Devi (2007), Govindaraj et al, (2011), Drabo et al, (2013, Sathya et al, (2013), Upadhyaya et al, (2013), Sankar et al, (2014), Chaudhary et al, (2015), and Kumar et al, (2015). The average D 2 values within (intra cluster) distance and between (inter cluster) clusters are given in table 4.…”