Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) through Multivariate Analysis Approach

The experiment was conducted with 65 germplasm accessions of finger millets to study genetic diversity for yield and yield contributing traits at Hill Millet Research Station, Waghai, Dangs in randomize block design. Two Multivariate techniques, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were considered. Principal component analysis indicates that three principal components PC-1, PC-2 and PC-3 explain 77.46%, 13.14% and 7.71% respectively of the total variation. The first principal component had positive loading for all eight characters considered. The second principal component had positive loading for three characters viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and plant height while the third principal component had positive loading values for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, length of main ear and straw yield. In cluster analysis sixty five genotypes were grouped into five distinct clusters on basis of Euclidean distance. The result of present study could be exploited in planning and execution of future breeding strategy in finger millet.