EVALUATION OF PHENOTYPIC TRAITS RELATED TO FORAGE YIELD IN FINGER MILLET (ELEUSINE CORACANA L. GAERTN) GERMPLASM ACCESSIONS

RAKESH KUMAR AND PRAFULL KUMAR*
SGCARS, Jagdalpur, IGKV, Raipur (CG), India
*(e-mail : prafull397@gmail.com)
(Received : 25 August 2022; Accepted : 25 September 2022)

SUMMARY

The field study was performed at Research cum Instructional Farm of Shaheed Gundadhoor College of Agriculture and Research Station, Jagdalpur, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (CG), during Kharif- 2021 in an augmented randomized design with replicated checks including 54 germplasm accessions to evaluate the phenotypic traits related to forage potential in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) Mean sum of squares for analysis of variance revealed significant differences among blocks check and test entries for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height and biological yield. The genotype with greatest blooming date was recorded by ICO 477312 (82 DAS) followed by ICO 477043 (80 DAS), GEC 275 (80 DAS), GEC 346 (79 DAS) and GEC 278 (77 DAS). Similarly for days to maturity GEC-353, ICO 476882 and ICO 477312 exhibited equal days to maturity i.e. (115 DAS) followed by GEC 278 (114 DAS) and GEC 275 (113 DAS). Referring to plant height, genotype ICO 477913 (106cm) followed by GEC 5 (105.70cm), ICO 47045 (96cm), GEC 400 (94cm) and GEC 417 (93.80cm). For biological yield GEC 199 (106.07 q/ha) followed by GEC 400 (104.89 q/ha), GEC 238 (101.63 q/ha), GEC 371 (89.78 q/ha) and ICO 477232 (83.85 q/ha). For fodder yield GEC 400 (71.41 q/ha) was noted as most dominating genotype referring to the breeding goal and subsequently GEC 238 (70.52 q/ha), GEC 199 (69.78 q/ha), GEC 371 (66.07 q/ha) and GEC 275 (60.00 q/ha) also demonstrated fair potential. To evaluate the crop phenotypically in association with fodder as objective, we determine that (70-80 DAS) of days to 50% flowering, (103-113 DAS) of days to maturity, (85-95cm) of plant height and (76-104 q/ha) of biological yield may be opted to maximize finger millet’s forage potential. We also recommend that GEC 400, GEC 238, GEC 199, GEC 371 and GEC 275 demonstrated good promise for forage yield and can be revalidated in next crop season followed by incorporation in replicated trials.

Key words: Finger millet, phenotypic traits, forage potential, germplasm accessions

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