Phenotypic Variation and Genotypic Diversity of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) Germplasm Collections in Malawi.

Abstract Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) has remained neglected and underutilized for years in Malawi partly due to limited research that include crop improvement. Any effort to exploit the genetic potential of the available genetic variability would lead to identification of potential germplasm for production in Malawi. The study aimed at characterizing agro-morphological traits and identifying genetic diversity using Kompetitive Allele Specifc PCR (KASP) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in order to identify unique traits that can be used in germplasm discrimination for seed production as well as crop improvement. A total of 40 finger millet germplasm collections were evaluated in the field at Crops and Soil Sciences Department's research farm of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). The experiment was laid out in an Alpha lattice design. From 40 germplasm collections, 188 germplasm collection samples were selected for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) extraction. Phenotypic data on agro-morphological traits was collected and subjected to multivariate analysis. Genotypic data was subjected to Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) in R- statistical package. Three principal components explained 42% of the total phenotypic variation among the germplasm collections while AMOVA revealed a 48% variation within and 53% variation among the germplasm collections. Cluster analysis grouped the 188 genotyped germplasm collections into 6 clusters. Phenotypic variations and genotypic diversity exist in finger millet which aids in the discrimination of the germplasm collections in seed production and in breeding programs.