Genetic Analyses of Agronomic Traits of Tef (Eragrostis tef) Genotypes

Genetic variation, associations, and heritability for grain yield and component traits (days to heading, shoot biomass, 100 seed weight, individual plant above ground biomass, plant seed weight, panicle seed weight, plant height, panicle length and lodging index) were studied in a trial using 18 tef genotypes at two locations in Ethiopia. Highly significant differences were observed among genotypes for most of the traits examined. When correlations between yield component characters were taken into account, most of the values between various character pairs were significant and positive. Lodging index was negatively correlated with harvest index, shoot biomass, above ground plant biomass, plant height and panicle length. Plant seed weight and shoot biomass appeared to contribute substantially to grain yield at the genotypic level. The values for genotypic and phenotypic correlations between the traits were in the same direction indicating that most of the phenotypic correlations were due to genotypic causes. High heritability estimates were observed for days to heading, plant height, and panicle length and intermediate heritability for days to maturity, lodging index, grain yield, panicle seed weight and shoot biomass. Moderately high values for genotypic coefficients of variability, heritability, and genetic advance estimated for grain yield, panicle seed weight and above ground plant biomass may suggest the predominance of additive gene action, and that direct selection based on these traits would be effective for improvement of tef.