Profiling Ethiopian finger millet (Eleusine coracana) accessions for major agronomic traits and nutrient composition under varying drought stress

    Gebreyohannes, A and Shimelis, H and Mashilo, J and Odeny, D A and Mindaye, T T and Ojulong, H and Ojiewo, C O (2025) Profiling Ethiopian finger millet (Eleusine coracana) accessions for major agronomic traits and nutrient composition under varying drought stress. Euphytica (TSI), 221. pp. 1-31. ISSN 0014-2336

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    Abstract

    Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is a drought-resilient cereal with notable agronomic and nutritional value, yet remains underutilized due to limited research and product development. The objective of this study was to profile genetically diverse Ethiopian finger millet accessions for major agronomic traits, drought response, and nutritional compositions under contrasting drought stress conditions to select genotypes for breeding or production. This study evaluated 448 Ethiopian accessions (landraces and improved varieties) for agronomic performance, drought responses and nutrient composition across three moisture regimes: non-stressed (Arsinegelle: AN), moderately drought-prone (Maitsebri: SH), and severely drought-stressed (Meiso: MI). Field trials employed a row-column design (64 × 7 with two replications). Significant (P < 0.001) effects of genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interaction were detected for all traits. Grain yield (GY) declined by ~ 60% at MI site. The test genotypes varied considerably at MI for key traits: days to 50% flowering (DF) (78.5–107.5 days), days to maturity (DM) (101.0–149.5 days), grain yield (GY) (0.5–3.2 t/ha), grain iron (53.6–81.0 ppm) and grain zinc (67.8–83.1 ppm) suggesting conisderable genetic varaition for selection. Black‐seeded genotypes maintained higher GY and Fe/Zn under drought, while red‐seeded types flowered and matured earlier and produced larger seed size. Broad‐sense heritability exceeded 60% for drought tolerance (Drt) score, DF, and DM, but remained below 30% for plant height, starch content and GY. GY was negatively correlated with DF, DM, Drt and stay-green traits, but positively correlated with seed weight across environments. Principal component analysis explained > 67% of the variance in key traits across test sites, and hierarchical clustering grouped genotypes into four clusters. Eight accessions (G141, G423, G297, G247, G171, G204, G294, and G46) were identified as promising candidates for direct use or breeding for improved yield, nutrient density and drought resilience.

    Item Type: Article
    Divisions: Global Research Program - Accelerated Crop Improvement
    Research Program : East & Southern Africa
    CRP: UNSPECIFIED
    Uncontrolled Keywords: Agronomic traits, Cluster analysis, Drought tolerance, Finger millet, Grain colour, Nutritional composition, Principal component analysis
    Subjects: Mandate crops > Millets > Finger Millet
    Others > Drought
    Depositing User: Mr Nagaraju T
    Date Deposited: 10 Mar 2026 03:48
    Last Modified: 10 Mar 2026 03:48
    URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/13530
    Official URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10681-0...
    Projects: UNSPECIFIED
    Funders: UNSPECIFIED
    Acknowledgement: This research was supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with grant number OPP1198373 through Harnessing Opportunities for Productivity Enhancement (HOPE II) project: the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) initiative of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), and Melkassa Agricultural Research Centre (MARC) for facilitating the study leave of the first author and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) for hosting and supporting the research activities.
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