Molecular and Phenotypic Characterization of 149 Finger Millet Accessions Using Microsatellite and Agro-Morphological Markers

• Published in: National Academy of Sciences, India. Proceedings. Section B. Biological Sciences Vol. 87; no. 4; pp. 1217 - 1228
• Main Authors: Babu, B. Kalyana, Sood, S., Agrawal, P. K., Chandrashekara, C., Kumar, Arun, Kumar, Anil
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01.12.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Ear; Flowering; Gene mapping; Gene polymorphism; Genetic markers; Life Sciences; Microsatellites; Morphology; Nucleic Acid Chemistry; Plant Biochemistry; Quantitative trait loci; Research Article; Tryptophan; Agro-morphological characters; Microsatellites; Principal component analysis; DNA marker
• ISSN: 0369-8211; 2250-1746
• DOI: 10.1007/s40011-015-0695-6

In the present investigation a diverse range of 149 finger millet accessions representing world collections was characterized using 19 quantitative variables and 46 genomic microsatellite markers. Wide variation was observed for the studied agro-morphological characters between exotic and Indian populations, which consisted of 60 and 89 accessions respectively. The Indian (Asian) accessions were observed to have more flag leaf sheath length, peduncle length, panicle exsertion, ear head width, fingers per head and 1000-grain weight as compared to exotic populations. Highly significant and positive correlations were observed between days to 50 % flowering and days to maturity (0.914); peduncle length and panicle exsertion (0.921). The first three PCA components explained 50 % of the total variation and two major groups were detected on the basis of projection of the accessions on the first two principal components. The genotypes IE7320, IE4491, GE1437, VHC3911, and VHC3898 were found to be better parents for high photosynthetic efficiency, while GE1437, GE5192, and IE5367 were for tryptophan content. The 46 SSR markers grouped 149 genotypes into two groups viz., Indian and exotic, based on the UPGMA analysis of Power Marker V3.25 software. The clustering pattern of Indian and exotic genotypes was similar to some extent on the basis of morphological and molecular markers, however the SSR markers were more effective in explaining the admixture of genotypes. Among the SSRs UGEP65, UGEP24, UGEP60, and UGEP78 are noteworthy due to their relatively higher level of polymorphism which can be widely used for diversity analysis, and QTL mapping studies.