Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>The present study was conducted to characterize landraces of finger millets using DUSN (Distinctness, Uniformity, Stability, and Novelty) descriptors, yield-contributing traits, and molecular markers. Significant variations were observed among landraces, particularly in ear shape, ear head length, and seed colour. The predominance of dark-colored seeds suggested the potential use in developing nutritionally rich, wide varieties. The Shannon diversity index ranged from 0.598 to 1.317, indicating a broad spectrum of variability. Most of the traits exhibited high heritability coupled with high genetic advance, suggesting additive gene action and suitability for improvement through selection. Seed yield showed a significant positive correlation with traits like flag leaf width, productive tillers per plant, harvest index, biological yield, and flowering time, highlighting their importance in yield enhancement. Principal component analysis identified seven principal components with eigenvalues > 1, which explained about 76.94% of the total variation. Molecular diversity analysis using SCoT and SSR markers revealed high polymorphism, with markers SCoT2, SCoT3, SCoT7, SCoT8, SCoT9, SCoT11, SCoT14, SCoT20, SCoT26, SCoT31, SSR1, SSR3, SSR4, SSR5, SSR7, SSR8, SSR10, SSR12, SSR19 and SSR20 being particularly informative due to high PIC values. Cluster analysis grouped genotypes into three major clusters, with the greatest genetic divergence observed between clusters II and III, indicating their potential for generating maximum variability in breeding programs. The findings provided valuable information that is useful for genetic improvement in finger millet.</p>