Heterotic potential of partial male sterile-based hybrids in finger millet (Eleusine corocona L.): Implications to genetic improvement
Main Article Content
Abstract
Finger millet, a nutrient-rich and climate-resilient cereal, faces declining cultivation due to poor productivity, largely because of the lack of effective hybridization techniques. A set of 46 hybrids developed through partial male sterile line PS 1 was evaluated in summer and kharif seasons. Significant differences were observed among hybrids and parents for 16 traits, with key yield traits showing strong genotype × environment (G×E) interactions. Heterosis for grain yield ranged from -41.7% to 58.1% during summer and -38.5% to 48.4% in kharif over the check variety GPU 28. Notably, the hybrid PS1 × GE 4972 exhibited stable heterosis 23.4% and 48.4%), respectively across both the seasons, while PS1 × GE 4764 (58.1%), PS1 × GE 436 (31.9%) and PS1 x MR1 (26.6%) showed season-specific heterosis. These hybrids showed highest heterosis, reported thus far in finger millet and indicated the crop’s potential for increased productivity. Promising heterotic hybrids were also identified for traits like fodder yield, ear head weight, and seed weight. High correlations between hybrid means and mid-parent values for traits like finger length, days to maturity, and seed weight suggested additive gene action. Genetic diversity analysis of 47 parents revealed substantial diversity and geographical clustering. However, no direct correlation was observed between heterosis and parental divergence based on morphological or SSR polymorphism. The present study is the first extensive heterosis investigation in finger millet demonstrating the potential of partial male sterility for improved hybridization and exploring broader genetic pools. The promising hybrids and parental lines offer new opportunities for finger millet improvement.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Annepu SK, Sharma HD, Barh A, Dogra, Sharma V, Thakur S, Verma V, Sharma K (2023) Performance prediction of F1 crosses in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) based on morphological and molecular divergence. Genetika. 55(1):45-60. https://doi.org/10.2298/GENSR2301045A.
APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), 2023-24, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. https://apeda.gov.in/milletportal/files/Statewise_Millet_Production.pdf.
Arunachalam V, Bandyopadhyay A, Nigam S, Gibbons RW (1984) Heterosis in relation to genetic divergence and specific combining ability in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Euphytica. 33:33–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00022747.
Ayyangar GNR (1934) Recent work on the genetics of millets in India. Madras Agric. J. 22(1):16–26.
Daloz AS, Rydsaa JH, Hodnebrog Ø, Sillmann J, van Oort B, Mohr CW, Agrawal M, Emberson L, Stordal F, Zhang T (2021) Direct and indirect impacts of climate change on wheat yield in the Indo-Gangetic plain in India J Agric Food Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2021.100132
Deshmukh HS, Chawhan RG, Bramhankar VW (2019) Effect of season and sowing dates on growth and development traits of soybean. J Pharmacogn Phytochem. 8(1):149-152.
Divya S, Geetha K, Siva kumar R, Nirmala Kumari A, Sharavanan PT (2022) Elucidating combining ability, gene action and heterosis for yield and yield contributing traits in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaert). Electron J Plant Breed. 13(2):663 – 669. https://doi.org/10.37992/2022.1302.097.
FAOSTAT (2022) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAOSTAT Statistical Database. Rome, Italy. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RL
Gebreyohannes A, Shimelis H, Mashilo J, Odeny DA, Tadesse T, Ojiewo CO (2024) Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) improvement: Challenges and prospects—A review. Plant Breed. 143(3):350-374. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.13169.
Gowda MVC, Nanjareddy, Pushpalatha N, Deepika M, Pramila CK, Sachin SJ (2014) Compendium of varieties in small millets. Project coordinating unit, All India Coordinated Small Millets Improvement Project, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, GKVK, Bengaluru.
Gower JC (1985) Measures of similarity, dissimilarity and distances, in: Kotz, S., et al., (Eds.), Encyclopedia of statistical sciences. Wiley, New York, pp 397–405.
Gower JC, Legendre P (1986) Metric and Euclidean properties of dissimilarity coefficients. Journal of Classification. 3:5–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01896809.
Gupta RR, Kumar S (2009) Hybrid vigour for yield and component traits in finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.). Crop Res. 38: 167-169.
Gupta SC, Muza FR, Andrews DJ (1997) Registration of INFM 95001 Finger millet Genetic male-sterile line. Crop Sci. 37: 1409. https://doi.org/10.2135/CROPSCI1997.0011183X003700040097X.
Gupta SM, Arora S, Mirza N, Pande A, Lata C, Puranik S, et al. (2017) Finger millet: a “certain” crop for an “uncertain” future and a solution to food insecurity and hidden hunger under stressful environments. Front Plant Sci. 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00643.
Gvozdenović S, Saftić Panković D, Jocić S, Radić V (2009) Correlation between heterosis and genetic distance based on SSR markers in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). J Agric Sci. 54(1): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.2298/JAS0901001G.
Hallauer AR, Carena MJ, Filho JBM (2010) Heterosis. In: Quantitative Genetics in Maize Breeding. Handbook of Plant Breeding. 6, Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0766-0_10
Hasegawa T, Wakatsuki H, Ju H, Vyas S, Nelson GC, Farrell A, Deryng D, Meza F, Makowski D (2022) A global dataset for the projected impacts of climate change on four major crops. Sci. Data. 9:58. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01150-7.
Jagadish SVK, Bahuguna RN, Djanaguiraman M, Gamuyao R, Prasad PVV, Craufurd PQ (2016). Implications of high temperature and elevated CO2 on flowering time in plants. Front Plant Sci. 7: 913. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00913.
Kanatti A, Rai KN, Radhika K, Govindaraj M, Sahrawat KL, Rao AS (2014) Grain iron and zinc density in pearl millet: combining ability, heterosis and association with grain yield and grain size. Springerplus. 3:763. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-763.
Kasule F, Kakeeto R, Tippe DE, Okinong D, Aru CJ, Wasswa P, Oduori CO, Adikini S (2023) Insights into finger millet production: constraints, opportunities and implications for improving the crop in Uganda. J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci. 15(4):143-164. https://doi.org/10.5897/JPBCS2023.1018
Kaur S, Kumari A, Seem K, Kaur G, Kumar D, Verma S, Singh N, Kumar A, Kumar M, Jaiswal S, Bhardwaj R, Singh BK, Riar A (2024). Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.): from staple to superfood—a comprehensive review on nutritional, bioactive, industrial, and climate resilience potential. Planta 260:75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-024-04502-2.
Krishnamurthy SL, Mohan Rao A, Madhavi Reddy K, Ramesh S, Shailaja Hittalmani, Gopinath Rao M (2013) Limits of parental divergence for the occurrence of heterosis through morphological and AFLP marker in chilli (Capsicum annuum L.). Current Sci. 104(6):738-746.
Labroo MR, Studer AJ, Rutkoski JE (2021) Heterosis and Hybrid Crop Breeding: A Multidisciplinary Review. Front Genet. 12:643761. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.643761.
Li X, Siddique KHM (2018) Future Smart Food - Rediscovering hidden treasures of neglected and underutilized species for Zero Hunger in Asia, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bangkok.
Manjappa, Gowda MVC, Rangaiah S, Sachin SJ, Sujay V (2024) A novel virescence mutant simplifies hybridization in finger millet breeding. Genet Resour Crop Evol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-024-02112-1.
Manjappa, Santosh Deshpande, Rangaiah S, Gowda MVC (2018) Assessment of molecular diversity in an elite set of finger millet Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn. genotypes using SSR markers. Electron J Plant Breed. 9(2):564-576.
Mantel NA (1967) The detection of disease clustering and a generalized regression approach. Cancer Res. 27:209–220.
Moll RH, Lonnquist JH, Fortuno JW, Johnson EC (1965) The relationship of heterosis and genetic divergence in maize. Genetics. 52:139–144.
Muraro M, Falaschi M, Ficetola GF (2022) Patterns of performance variation between animal hybrids and their parents: A meta‑analysis. Evolutionary Biol. 49:482–496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-022-09585-x.
Nagaraja A, Kumar J, Jain AK, Narasimhudu Y, Raghuchander T, Kumar B, Gowda HB (2007) Compendium of small millets diseases. Project Coordination Cell, All India Coordinated Small Millets Improvement Project, UAS, GKVK Campus, Bangalore. 80p.
Nagaraja TE, Nandini C, Bhat Sujata, Gazala PS (2023) Artificial hybridization techniques in small millets—A review. Front Plant Sci. 14: 1112117. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1112117.
Pandey SK, Dasgupta T, Rathore A, Vemula A (2018) Relationship of parental genetic distance with heterosis and specific combining ability in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) based on phenotypic and molecular marker analysis. Biochem Genet. 56: 188–209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-017-9837-2.
Parashuram DP, Jayarame Gowda, Satish RG, Mallikarjun NM (2011) Heterosis and combining ability studies for yield and yield attributing characters in finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Geartn. Electron J Plant Breed. 2(4):494-500.
Praveen P, Vankat RP, Ashutosh Kumar, Sunil Y, Dinesh T, Rajesh Kumar (2015) Relationship between heterosis and genetic diversity in Indian pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] accessions using multivariate cluster analysis and heterotic grouping. Australian J Crop Sci. 9(6):494-503.
Priyadharshini A, Nirmalakumari A, John J, Raveendran M (2011) Heterosis studies in finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.). Madras Agri J. 98(1-3):26-28.
Puranik S, Kam J, Sahu PP, Yadav R, Srivastava RK, Ojulong H, Yadav R (2017) Harnessing finger millet to combat calcium deficiency in humans: challenges and prospects. Front Plant Sci. 8:1311. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01311.
Rao M, Reddy GL, Kulkarni RS, Ramesh S, Reddy SSL (2004) Prediction of heterosis based on genetic divergence of parents through regression analysis in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Helia. 27:51–58.
Saitou N, Nei M (1987) The Neighbor-Joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Bio Evo. 4:406–425.
Santos D, Roberto C, Fritsche-Neto, Guimarães Batista L, Fanelli Carvalho H, César Dovale J, Cristian Malta De Lanes E, Vieira Miranda G (2013) Relationship between heterosis and genetic divergence for phosphorus use efficiency and its components in tropical maize. Ciência Rural. 43(1):60-65.
Santos D, Roberto C, Fritsche-Neto, Guimarães Batista L, Fanelli Carvalho H, César DoVale J, Cristian Malta de Lanes E, Vieira Miranda G (2013) Relationship between heterosis and genetic divergence for phosphorus use efficiency and its components in tropical maize. Ciência Rural, 43(1):60-65. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-84782012005000133.
Savitha P, Nirmalakumari A, Maheswaran M, Raguchander T (2013) Combining ability analysis and estimates of heterosis for grain yield and nutritional traits in finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Geartn). Madras Agric J. 100(1-3):15-19.
Seetharam A (1998) Small millets research: achievement during 1947-97. Indian J Agric Sci. 68(8):431–438.
Shailaja HB, Thirumeni S, Paramasivam K, Ramanadane T (2010) Combining ability analysis in Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) under salinity. Electronic J Plant Breed. 1(2):129-139.
Siva Gurunathan M, Veerabadhiran P, Senthil N (2006) Combining ability studies in finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] for yield and quality traits. Crop Res. 31(3):383-390.
Sood S, Kumar A, Babu BK, Gaur VS, Pandey D, Kant L, Pattnayak A (2016) Gene Discovery and Advances in Finger Millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] Genomics-An Important Nutri-Cereal of Future. Front Plant Sci. 7:1634. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.01634.
Sood S, Joshi DC, Chandra AK, Kumar A (2019) Phenomics and genomics of finger millet: current status and future prospects. Planta. 250(3):731-751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03159-6.
Srivastava PSL, Arunachalam V (1977) Heterosis as a function of divergence in Triticale. Der Pflazenzuchtung. 78:269–275.
Sumathi P, John Joel A, Muralidharan V (2005) Combining ability and heterosis for grain yield and its component traits in finger millet under irrigated conditions. Millets Res. 92:46.
Upadhyaya HD, Gowda CLL, Reddy VG (2007) Morphological diversity in finger millet germplasm introduced from Southern and Eastern Africa. J. SAT Agric Res. 3(1):1-3.
Wright H, Devos KM (2024) Finger millet: A hero in the making to combat food insecurity. Theor Appl Genet. 137:139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-024-04637-6.
Zhang Tao, Ni Xian-lin, Jiang Kai-feng, Deng Hua-feng, He Qing, Yang Qian-hua, Yang Li, Wan Xian-Qi, CAO Ying-jiang, ZHENG Jia-kui (2010) Relationship between heterosis and parental genetic distance based on molecular markers for functional genes related to yield traits in rice[J]. Rice Sci. 17(4):288-295. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6308(09)60029-9.