Assessment of variability of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) landraces germplasm in Northern Nigeria

Abstract Germplasm identification and characterization is an important link between conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources. The present study was conducted to characterize the morphological diversity of 10 germplasm accessions of Finger millet ( Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) collected from diverse locations spread across the geographic Northern Nigeria during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 cropping seasons. The seeds of the accessions were planted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in each of two locations-Keffi and Gwagwalada, during the three cropping seasons. The field studies for the three seasons in the two locations followed uniform agricultural practices. Field data was collected on morphological traits such as plant height, leaf length, leaf diameter, finger length, finger width, number of fingers and 1000 seed weight were recorded in accordance with standard finger millet descriptors. The results obtained, showed that plant height in accession Ex-Kwi was significantly different from all the other nine accessions while the highest leaf length which was recorded in Ex-Riyom was significantly different (p