Vol. 9, Special Issue 10, Part R (2025)

The initial step in improving grain yield in barnyard millet through genetic enhancement involves indirect selection of yield-related traits. An evaluation of 35 barnyard millet germplasm accessions revealed that traits such as flag leaf blade width (0.737), 1000-grain weight (0.620), flag leaf blade length (0.549), days to physiological maturity (0.542), peduncle length (0.539), panicle length (0.311), plant height (0.298), days to 50 per cent flowering (0.256) and basal tiller number (0.214) showed a strong and significant positive genotypic correlation with grain yield per plant. A positive association suggests that an increase in any one of these traits would likely lead to higher grain yield. Path coefficient analysis further demonstrated that flag leaf blade width (0.8813) contributed the greatest positive direct effect on grain yield, followed by peduncle length (0.6669), days to 50 per cent flowering (0.6081), basal tiller number (0.5193), flag leaf blade length (0.3089) and panicle length (0.2836). Conversely, traits such as days to physiological maturity (-0.777), plant height (-0.4533) and 1000-grain weight (-0.4479) exerted negative direct effects on grain yield per plant.