Evaluation of traditional varieties of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (A.) Gaertnr.)

Introduction

Millets are minor, annual cereal grasses with small seeds that are characterized by their capacity to thrive in much less fertile soil and for their adaptation to withstand hot and arid environments. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) also known as African millet and commonly called "ragi" in India. The grains of ragi are packed with fibre and calcium, are extremely beneficial due to its enormous health benefits. This small millet is wholesome nutrient package and recommended for all age groups. In India, it is commonly grown for human consumption and also in many other arid and semi-arid areas of the world. Finger millet or ragi (Eleusine coracana) was native of Ethiopia but spread out to Asia few thousand years ago. Now a-days, there is a sudden increase in the demand of minor millets due to their health benefits and ragi is one of them. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a highly nutritious grain known for its potential in managing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Finger millet contains high levels of natural antioxidants like flavonoids, which can reduce oxidative stress and block α-amylase and α-glucosidase, the key enzymes involved in sugar digestion. Studies showed that it performed better than some diabetes drugs in inhibition of these enzymes. These benefits make finger millet a strong candidate for use in healthy, diabetes-friendly foods. With the increasing trend in consumption of ragi among rural and urban populations opened the gateway for the development new varieties in ragi. This research project was initiated to identify the high yielding, genetically variable varieties which can also be used as parental lines for further breeding programmes.

Materials and Methods

Evaluation at farm level

The landraces were collected from the following five locations viz., Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru, Karnataka, Coimbatore and Virudhunagar. The 15 genotypes listed in the Table.1 form the resource material for carrying out the diversity analysis. The materials were sown in Randomized Block Design with three replications at south farm of Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore. Each material was sown in three rows of 2.0 m length with 20 cm between rows and 10cm between plants. The experimental plot was managed as per farmers' practice.

The performances of resource materials were evaluated. To compare genotypes without bias, a homogenous plant population was maintained in each row. Ten plants were tagged at random per genotype and replication to record observations on yield and yield attributing eight characteristics viz., days to 50% heading, days to 80% maturity, ear exertion (cm), plant height (cm), number of fingers per head, finger width (mm), length of flag leaf (cm) and yield per plant (gm) were recorded. These traits were considered for evaluating the yield potential of finger millet genotypes.

Analysis of On-Farm data

Data on traits were subjected to statistical analysis. The statistical package used for analysis was Genstat Discovery Edition 4.0 at 0.05 level of significance. The mean performances of traditional varieties of Finger millets are summarized in Table . 2.

Results and Discussion

All the experimental materials showed erect growth habit. The mean values of quantitative and qualitative characters of finger millet are given in Table .2. The research measured Days to 50% Heading (DFH) and Days to 80% Maturity (DEM) between three ranges which extended from 29.8 to 81.5 days and 95.4 to 119.0 days respectively. Shivalli ragi showed the fastest growth among all genotypes. The research observed that plant height (PH) measurements ranged between 59.5 cm (Ney ragi) and 111.0 cm (Indaf 9) which demonstrated different height ranges. Sharavathi ragi achieved its highest yield through its measurement of 8.4 fingers per head while Billigada ragi generated its longest fingers which measured 9.5 centimeters. The Single Plant Yield (SPY) reached its highest point in Paiyur 1 (28.2 g) and CO 10 (25.6 g) while Thiruchuzhi keppai produced the smallest yield with its output of 9.1 g. The results show that these traits have strong genetic control which enables breeders to improve crops through selective breeding. The combination of mature height between moderate and maturity height between moderate, which together with the SPY performance of Paiyur 1 and CO 10 indicates that these plants have developed an effective balance for distributing their biomass. The extreme earliness of Shivalli ragi makes it a valuable candidate for drought-prone environments or short-cropping windows. The high finger number and width of Sharavathi ragi and Thiruchuzhi keppai make them suitable as parent plants in hybridization programs which seek to enhance finger millet sink capacity. The researchers will use these genotypes to create high-yielding, climateresilient varieties which will meet specific agro-ecological needs. The maximum number of fingers per head contributed for single plant yield. These finding was in accordance with the results of Lule et al., (2012) [3] and Patil (2019) [4] . The accessions which were rich in minerals can be utilized as parental lines in quality breeding programmes and the variety Sharavathi can be used in hybridization programmes to increase the yield.

Conclusion

The current study revealed that there is greater scope for exploiting the variation present among the traditional varieties of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. As the millets getting their place in the center of meals now a days, the development of high yielding, nutrient rich ragi is need of the hour. Trait targeted finger millet improvement programmes may be undertaken in future by utilizing the data generated from this experiment.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgmentThe authors are grateful to the Administrators of Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences for the Seed Money provided to collect the traditional finger millet varieties of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

References

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