Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (<I>L</I>.) Gaertn) Variety

Desu Assegid; Abubeker Terbush; Gebeyehu Chala; Gabisa Bekela; Abdela Usmael

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Research Article |

| Peer-Reviewed

Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety

Desu Assegid^*, Abubeker Terbush, Gebeyehu Chala, Gabisa Bekela, Abdela Usmael

Published in American Journal of BioScience (Volume 12, Issue 6)

Received: 9 October 2024 Accepted: 4 November 2024 Published: 28 November 2024

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Although finger millet is grown extensively in Ethiopia, the national average yield is much less than the crop's genetic potential. This is due to a lack of stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant finger millet varieties. Thus, the current study was conducted to find stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant genotypes for increasing production. A randomized complete block design was used to evaluate twelve finger millet genotypes under a regional variety trial at Mechara and Habro for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019) against standard checks (Maba, Addis01, and Axum). The tested genotypes were brought from the Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. Further, some of these genotypes were collected from different areas of Oromia and the remaining were introduced from Kenya including Ikulule through Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. At the multi-environment evaluation, the yield advantage of the new variety is 18% higher than the best-performed standard check Maba (5.8tha^-1). Additionally, the GGE biplot analysis showed that the Ikulule variety is high-yielding across locations and years. Also at the variety verification trial, the overall mean grain yield of (Ikulule) at on station and farmers' fields is 3.81 t tha^-1 whereas the standard check kumusa is 2.91 tha^-1. The new variety is not only high-yield but also resistant to blast rust and shoot flies relative to standard check. As a result, this new variety of Ikulule was released for the west Hararghe zone districts and similar agroecologies.

Published in	American Journal of BioScience (Volume 12, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14
Page(s)	186-190
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Finger Millet, Ikulule, GGE

1. Introduction

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) is an allotetraploid (2n = 4× = 36) annual cereal crop

[7]

It is important in the semi-arid and tropical regions of the world where other crops cannot perform well

[8]

especially in East Africa, India, and other Asian countries

[10]

. Potentially a climate-resilient and nutritious crop with highly nutritive and antioxidant properties

[9]

. Further, it is a reach reservoir for different micronutrients particularly high amounts of calcium, and iron, and is gluten-free as a result has a health benefit

[1]

. Consequently, it is a critical crop for poor farmers who inhabit arid, infertile, and marginal lands

[3]

. In most growing areas, grain is mainly utilized to make traditional food and drinks whereas stalks are for livestock feed

[1]

. Additionally, in Ethiopia, it is a widely produced and important staple food crop in most regions.

The second-largest producer of finger millet in the world followed by India is Ethiopia

[6]

. It is the sixth most important cereal crop in total area and production after teff, maize, sorghum, wheat, and barley in Ethiopia

[11]

. Further, it accounts for 5% of the total area allocated to cereal crops

[1]

. Despite this crop was widely produced as well as a center of origin and diversity in Ethiopia

[4]

. However, the average productivity is 2.5 and 1.4 tha^-1 in the national and west hararghe zones respectively

[2]

which is by far lower than it is potential 6 tha^-1

[1]

. This is mainly due to constraints like little research attention, poor agronomic management, high lodging, disease (mainly blast) and weed

[5]

, and lack of stable and high-yielding varieties

[3]

. Therefore, to address these problems, developing adaptable, stable, high-yielding, and disease-resistant varieties is important.

1.1. Varietal Origin and Evaluation

Ikhulule was originally introduced from Kenya and other genotypes were collected from different parts of Oromia regional state through Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. At regional variety trials fifteen genotypes including the standard checks Maba, Axum, and Addis 01 evaluated for three consecutive years (2017-2019) at locations Mechara (on station) and Habro district. The new variety Ikhulule showed relatively better performance consistently across years and locations. The variety verification trial was conducted during the 2020 cropping season at on-station and field of farmers the variety Ikhulule was better than the standard check Kumusa for most of the traits Table 2.

1.2. Agronomical and Morphological Characteristics

Ikhulule, the released variety, has light red-brown seeds, an average height of 103 cm, is less prone to lodging than standard checks, and 131 days to maturity. The detailed agronomic characteristics of the newly released variety are presented in Table 3.

1.3. Yield Performance

The mean of grain yield at two locations across three years for Ikhulule showed a relatively consistent and average yield (6.38 tha^-1) with an 18% yield advantage over the best standard check Maba (5.8 tha^-1) Table 1. Further, at variety verification trials the mean of the candidate (Ikhulule) was 4.11tha^-1 grain yield at the research station, while on-farm (farmers’ field) evaluation was 3.51tha^-1 with an overall mean of 3.81 tha^-1. On the other side, the mean of standard check kumusa was 2.90 tha^-1 Table 2.

1.4. Reaction to pest

Ikhulule was tested for its reaction to diseases blast rust and shooting flies, it showed moderate resistance to these pests Table 3.

1.5. Stability Analysis

Using GGE biplot analysis the yield stability of tested genotypes was examined.

The result showed that the Ikhulule was located closer to the concentric circle (Figure 1) this justifies, that the released variety (Ikhulule) was ideal.

Table 1. Mean grain yield (tha-1) of 15 genotypes across three years at two locations.

Genotypes	Habro			Mechara			Mean
Genotypes	2017	2018	2019	2017	2018	2019	Mean
Addis 01 (check)	7.29	5.76	5.14	2.70	3.38	4.17	4.74
KNE#814	7.50	5.41	7.43	5.48	3.81	5.69	5.88
GBK-008328A	3.54	4.91	5.94	5.29	5.26	7.57	5.41
KNE#1124	5.21	5.95	6.88	5.00	3.42	7.43	5.64
ENGENY	3.75	5.64	6.74	5.03	3.94	6.60	5.28
KNE#1012	5.21	5.90	6.94	6.05	5.10	7.08	6.04
KNE#624	5.42	5.92	6.60	4.67	2.73	7.64	5.49
Maba (check)	8.06	6.08	6.25	5.36	4.40	4.65	5.8
P224	5.63	4.90	7.36	4.99	3.73	5.76	5.39
GBK-000399A	9.31	5.09	6.67	6.06	4.07	3.92	5.85
Ikhulule	8.06	6.16	7.57	5.97	3.03	7.50	6.38
Axum (check)	7.78	4.60	7.92	3.04	4.38	3.85	5.26
Acc.#14FMB/0	3.67	4.85	6.46	4.39	3.60	6.46	4.90
KNE#688	6.81	4.71	6.95	4.39	3.92	5.11	5.31
KNE#622	4.10	4.45	6.74	5.39	2.70	6.67	5
Grand mean	6.08	5.35	6.77	4.92	3.83	6	5.49
F-value	**	*	*	*	*	**

Table 2. Grain Yield data for Finger millet Variety Verification Trial at Mechara and Tulo districts of west Hararghe Zone in 2020 cropping season.

Finger millet	On-station GY (tha-1)	On-farm GY (tha-1)	Overall GY (tha-1)
Ikhulule/Candidate-1	4.11	3.51	3.81
Kumsa (Check)	3.35	2.45	2.90

GY= Grain Yield

Table 3. Agronomic/morphological characteristics of finger millet variety, Ikhulule.

Variety name	Ikhulule
Adaption areas	Mechara, Habro, and similar agro-ecologies
Altitude (m.a.s.l.)	1700-1900
Rainfall (mm)	800-1200
Seed rate (kg/ha^-1)	8-10
Row Spacing (cm)	40
Planting date early to late May	Earl to late May
Fertilizer rate kg ha^-1
Nitrogen (N)kg ha (urea)	100
NPS/NPSBn (kg ha^-1)	100
Days to maturity (days)	131
Plant height in (cm)	73
Seed color	Light brow
Growth Habit	Erect
Crop disease and insect Reaction
Blast	2
Shoot fly	2
Grain Yield (t ha^-1)
Research field	4.11
On-farm	3.51
Year of Release	June, 2021
Breeder Seed Maintainer	Mechara Agricultural Research Center

Note: m a.s.l. = meters above sea level.

Download: Download full-size image

Figure 1. The average genotypes coordination (AGC) views rank genotypes relative to the center of concentric circles.

2. Conclusions and Recommendations

The national average productivity of finger millet is below its genetic potential although it is a commonly grown and reliable food crop in Ethiopia. This is because of a number of biotic and abiotic stresses, as well as a lack of access to improved varieties, particularly in the west Hararghe zone. In order to address these issues, the new variety Ikhulule was released for districts in this zone because of it demonstrated a comparatively high grain yield, greater adaptability, and stable performance compared to the other evaluated genotypes and standard checks. It is also resistant to blast disease and shoots flies. Therefore, farmers in West Hararghe, particularly those in Mechara and Habro, and other similar ecologies, should be using this new finger millet variety (Ikhulule) to boost their productivity.

Abbreviations

AGC	Average Genotypes Coordination
GGE	Genotype Mean Effect (G) Plus Genotype by Environment Interaction (G*E)

Acknowledgments

The authors greatly acknowledged the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute for funding the research. The authors also express their gratitude to all former and present staff members of the cereal research team of the Mechara Agricultural Research Center for the execution of the experiment.

Author Contributions

Desu Assegid: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Abubeker Terbush: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft

Gebeyehu Chala: Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft

Gabisa Bekela: Data curation, Formal Analysis, Software, Writing – review & editing

Abdela Usmael: Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Adane Gebreyohannes, Hussein Shimelis, Mark, L., Isack, M., Damaris, A. O., and Henry, O.. Finger millet production in Ethiopia: Opportunities, problem diagnosis, key challenges and recommendations for breeding. Sustainability. 2021, 13: 1-23. http://doi.org/10.3390/su132313463
[2]	CSA (Central Statistics Agency). 2021. Agricultural sample survey 2010/2021: report on area and production of crops (private peasant holdings, main season), vol. 1. Addis Ababa: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Central Statistical Agency.
[3]	Dagnachew, L., De Villiers, S., Sewalem, T., Dida, M., Masresha, F., Kimani, W., and Kassahun, T. Genetic diversity and eco-geographical distribution of Eleusine species collected from Ethiopia. African Crop Science Journal. 2014, 22(1), 45-58.
[4]	De Wet, J. M. J., Rao, K. P., Brink, D. E., and Mengesha, M. H. Systematics and evolution of Eleusine coracana (Gramineae). American Journal of Botany. 1984, 71(4), 550-557.
[5]	Fentie, M. Participatory evaluation and selection of improved finger millet varieties in northwestern Ethiopia. International Research Journal of Plant Science. 2012, 3(7), 141-146.
[6]	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations STAT. 2019. Available online: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC (accessed on 20 June 2019).
[7]	Hilu K. W. 1994. Validation of the combination Eleusine coracana subspecies Africana Phytologia; 76(5): 410–11.
[8]	Hittalmani, S., Mahesh, H. B., Shirke, M. D., Biradar, H., Uday, G., Aruna, Y. R.,... and Mohanrao, A. The genome and transcriptome sequence of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) provides insights into drought tolerance and nutraceutical properties. BMC Genomics. 2017, 18, 1-16.
[9]	Kumar, A., Metwal, M., Kaur, S., Gupta, A. K., Puranik, S., Singh, S., and Yadav, R. Nutraceutical value of finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.], and their improvement using omics approaches. Frontiers in plant science. 2016, 7,934. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00934
[10]	Rudin B, Shashidhar HE, Kulkarni RS, Hittalmani S. Genetic diversity assessment of finger millet, (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn.), germplasm through RAPD analysis. PGR Newsletter. 2004, 138: 50–54.
[11]	Simion, T., Markos, S., and Samuel, T. Evaluation of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L). Gaertn.) Varieties for grain yield in lowland areas of southern Ethiopia. Cogent Food and Agriculture. 2020, 6(1), 1788895. http://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2020.1788895

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Assegid, D., Terbush, A., Chala, G., Bekela, G., Usmael, A. (2024). Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. American Journal of BioScience, 12(6), 186-190. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Assegid, D.; Terbush, A.; Chala, G.; Bekela, G.; Usmael, A. Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. Am. J. BioScience 2024, 12(6), 186-190. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Assegid D, Terbush A, Chala G, Bekela G, Usmael A. Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. Am J BioScience. 2024;12(6):186-190. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14,
  author = {Desu Assegid and Abubeker Terbush and Gebeyehu Chala and Gabisa Bekela and Abdela Usmael},
  title = {Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety
},
  journal = {American Journal of BioScience},
  volume = {12},
  number = {6},
  pages = {186-190},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  abstract = {Although finger millet is grown extensively in Ethiopia, the national average yield is much less than the crop's genetic potential. This is due to a lack of stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant finger millet varieties. Thus, the current study was conducted to find stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant genotypes for increasing production. A randomized complete block design was used to evaluate twelve finger millet genotypes under a regional variety trial at Mechara and Habro for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019) against standard checks (Maba, Addis01, and Axum). The tested genotypes were brought from the Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. Further, some of these genotypes were collected from different areas of Oromia and the remaining were introduced from Kenya including Ikulule through Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. At the multi-environment evaluation, the yield advantage of the new variety is 18% higher than the best-performed standard check Maba (5.8tha-1). Additionally, the GGE biplot analysis showed that the Ikulule variety is high-yielding across locations and years. Also at the variety verification trial, the overall mean grain yield of (Ikulule) at on station and farmers' fields is 3.81 t tha-1 whereas the standard check kumusa is 2.91 tha-1. The new variety is not only high-yield but also resistant to blast rust and shoot flies relative to standard check. As a result, this new variety of Ikulule was released for the west Hararghe zone districts and similar agroecologies.
},
 year = {2024}
}

Copy | Download

TY - JOUR
T1 - Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety

AU - Desu Assegid
AU - Abubeker Terbush
AU - Gebeyehu Chala
AU - Gabisa Bekela
AU - Abdela Usmael
Y1 - 2024/11/28
PY - 2024
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14
DO - 10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14
T2 - American Journal of BioScience
JF - American Journal of BioScience
JO - American Journal of BioScience
SP - 186
EP - 190
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2330-0167
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14
AB - Although finger millet is grown extensively in Ethiopia, the national average yield is much less than the crop's genetic potential. This is due to a lack of stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant finger millet varieties. Thus, the current study was conducted to find stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant genotypes for increasing production. A randomized complete block design was used to evaluate twelve finger millet genotypes under a regional variety trial at Mechara and Habro for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019) against standard checks (Maba, Addis01, and Axum). The tested genotypes were brought from the Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. Further, some of these genotypes were collected from different areas of Oromia and the remaining were introduced from Kenya including Ikulule through Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. At the multi-environment evaluation, the yield advantage of the new variety is 18% higher than the best-performed standard check Maba (5.8tha-1). Additionally, the GGE biplot analysis showed that the Ikulule variety is high-yielding across locations and years. Also at the variety verification trial, the overall mean grain yield of (Ikulule) at on station and farmers' fields is 3.81 t tha-1 whereas the standard check kumusa is 2.91 tha-1. The new variety is not only high-yield but also resistant to blast rust and shoot flies relative to standard check. As a result, this new variety of Ikulule was released for the west Hararghe zone districts and similar agroecologies.

VL - 12
IS - 6
ER -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Desu Assegid

Mechara Agricultural Research Centre, Mechara, Ethiopia

Contact Email
Abubeker Terbush

Mechara Agricultural Research Centre, Mechara, Ethiopia

Contact Email
Gebeyehu Chala

Bedale Agricultural Research Centre, Bedale, Ethiopia

Contact Email
Gabisa Bekela

Mechara Agricultural Research Centre, Mechara, Ethiopia

Contact Email
Abdela Usmael

Oda Bultum University, Chiro, Ethiopia

Download PDF

Abstract
Keywords
Document Sections
1. 1. Introduction
2. 2. Conclusions and Recommendations
Show Full Outline
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
Cite This Article
Author Information

Figure 1

Figure 1. The average genotypes coordination (AGC) views rank genotypes relative to the center of concentric circles.

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Assegid, D., Terbush, A., Chala, G., Bekela, G., Usmael, A. (2024). Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. American Journal of BioScience, 12(6), 186-190. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Assegid, D.; Terbush, A.; Chala, G.; Bekela, G.; Usmael, A. Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. Am. J. BioScience 2024, 12(6), 186-190. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Assegid D, Terbush A, Chala G, Bekela G, Usmael A. Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety. Am J BioScience. 2024;12(6):186-190. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14,
  author = {Desu Assegid and Abubeker Terbush and Gebeyehu Chala and Gabisa Bekela and Abdela Usmael},
  title = {Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety
},
  journal = {American Journal of BioScience},
  volume = {12},
  number = {6},
  pages = {186-190},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbio.20241206.14},
  abstract = {Although finger millet is grown extensively in Ethiopia, the national average yield is much less than the crop's genetic potential. This is due to a lack of stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant finger millet varieties. Thus, the current study was conducted to find stable, high-yielding, and disease-tolerant genotypes for increasing production. A randomized complete block design was used to evaluate twelve finger millet genotypes under a regional variety trial at Mechara and Habro for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019) against standard checks (Maba, Addis01, and Axum). The tested genotypes were brought from the Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. Further, some of these genotypes were collected from different areas of Oromia and the remaining were introduced from Kenya including Ikulule through Melkasa Agricultural Research Center. At the multi-environment evaluation, the yield advantage of the new variety is 18% higher than the best-performed standard check Maba (5.8tha-1). Additionally, the GGE biplot analysis showed that the Ikulule variety is high-yielding across locations and years. Also at the variety verification trial, the overall mean grain yield of (Ikulule) at on station and farmers' fields is 3.81 t tha-1 whereas the standard check kumusa is 2.91 tha-1. The new variety is not only high-yield but also resistant to blast rust and shoot flies relative to standard check. As a result, this new variety of Ikulule was released for the west Hararghe zone districts and similar agroecologies.
},
 year = {2024}
}

Copy | Download

TY - JOUR
T1 - Registration of “Ikhulule’’ Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) Variety

VL - 12
IS - 6
ER -

Copy | Download