WITHDRAWN: Genetic Diversity of Selected Ethiopian Core Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] Germplasm Collections Using Morphological Traits

Abstract Tef is an indigenous and important food, feed and cash crop to the small-holder of Ethiopian farmers. Information of the natural genetic variation of the crop would be useful for the genetic improvement of the crop through breeding. Hence, the current study was designed to determine the extent and pattern of genetic variability of selected tef core germplasm lines and released varieties from Ethiopia using morphological traits. A total of 81 tef genotypes were field evaluated for 17 morphological traits using a 9 × 9 simple lattice designs at Debre Zeit during the 2021 main cropping season and off-season. Only a few of the traits assessed showed significant differences among the genotypes. These were thousand seed weight and fertile tiller number in the main season, and peduncle length and number of fertile tillers in the off-season. Cluster analysis grouped the 81 tef genotypes into four clusters consisting of 15 to 31 genotypes. Principal component analysis showed that about 71% of the gross variance among the test genotypes was explained by six principal components with eigenvalues greater than one.