Estimation of Agro-Morphological and Yield Related Traits Variability in Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] Genotypes

Tef is an important crop to curb malnutrition and ensure food security in this era of climate change. 36 tef genotypes arranged in a triplicated randomized complete block design were evaluated for agro-morphological traits, variability and diversity of genotypes in the 2019 cropping season. The result of the analysis of variance showed highly significant (P≤0.01) differences for several characters studied, indicating the range of improvement through selection for high mean values of these traits. All of the traits were not found to be higher at the Genotypic Coefficient of Variance level, whereas a moderate genotypic coefficient of variation was recorded for panicle yield, biomass yield and grain yield indicating improvement is possible through simple selection of these traits. Ahigh heritability estimate was computed for days to physiological maturity, days to heading, lodging index, grain yield, biomass yield and harvest index. This result showed that advancement is possible through the selection of these traits. On the basis of hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis, all 36 genotypes were grouped into four non-overlapping clusters. The inter-cluster distance varied from 50.76 between clusters II and III to 16.50 between clusters II and IV. Genetic diversity was observed among the materials studied, indicating that the possibility of better parental selection for future breeding programs.