Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(5): 177-189 177 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.805.022 Genetic-Morphological Analysis in Little Millet (Panicum sumatrance Roth. Ex Roemer and Schultes) under Different Sown Conditions Devyani Katara*, Rajiv Kumar, Deepthi Rajan, S.B. Chaudhari and V.J. Zapadiya Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh-362001, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth. ex. Roem. and Schultz.) is one of the important small grain crops that come up well in dry lands, which are characterized by high temperature, low fertile soil and poor management by resource poor farmers. It is considered to be indigenous to Indian subcontinent due to the luxuriant presence of its wild ancestor Panicum psilopodium throughout India. It is a self pollinated and allotetraploid crop with chromosome number of 2n = 4x = 36 belonging to the family Poaceae and sub family Panicoideae. Besides India, it is widely cultivated as, minor cereal International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 05 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Genetic and morphological variability parameters were studied for grain yield and its attributes with a set of 30 genotypes of little millet ( Panicum sumatrances) at Junagadh, Gujarat during Kharif 2017 in randomized block design with three replications under timely (E 1 ), late (E 2 ) and vey late sown (E 3 ) conditions. The characters studied were days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, number of productive tillers per plant, plant height, panicle length, grain weight per main panicle, grain yield per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index, 1000 seed weight, chlorophyll content and specific leaf weight along with seven non metric characters viz., Plant growth habit, inflorescence shape, panicle compactness, grain color, lodging, grain shape and plant pigmentation were studied. Analysis of variance for each sowing date revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters. The presence of highly significant differences established the existence of large variability among genotypes included in the experimental material. High GCV and PCV were observed for number of productive tillers per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index and grain yield per plant for E 1 and E 2 environments, specific leaf weight for E 2 and E 3 environmental condition indicating broad genetic variability for these characters. Moderate estimates of PCV and GCV were observed for plant height in all environments. High heritability along with high genetic advance as per cent of mean observed for harvest index in all sowing conditions. Whereas, moderate heritability accompanies with moderate GAM was observed in plant height in all sowing conditions. Keywords Little millet, Variance, GCV, PCV, Timely, Late and Very Late sowing Condition Accepted: 04 April 2019 Available Online: 10 May 2019 Article Info