ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AND POPULATION STRUCTURE AMONG NORTH-EASTERN AND NORTH-WESTERN HIMALAYAN MAIZE LANDRACES USING MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR MARKERS

Genetic diversity among 60 maize genotypes was determined using morphological and SSR markers. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for all the twelve traits studied during present investigation. Estimates of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits. PCV and GCV was highest for grain yield per plant (42.76%, 34.37 %) followed by 100 gram weight (17.79%, 17.37%), respectively. The broad sense heritability was found to be high (>80%) for most of the traits except for grain yield per plant (64.60%). High PCV, GCV and GA were observed for grain yield per plant with moderate heritability. Grains per row revealed high direct contribution towards grain yield per plant. Cob placement height, cob length and cob girth contributed most towards genetic divergence. At molecular level, 20 SSR primers amplified a total of 52 polymorphic alleles with an average of 2.60 alleles per primer. Mean polymorphic information content was 0.31 showing a moderate level of SSR polymorphism. Cluster analysis differentiated 60 maize landraces into four major clusters. During present studies few genetically divergent landraces (LM-18-08, LM-19-07, LM-14-11, LM- 01-08 and LM-11-11) could be employed for their systematic and efficient use in breeding programs

CHALLENGES OF MANAGING RESOURCES DURING COVID - 19 PANDEMIC

The outbreak of global health pandemic COVID-19 brought a lot of changes in the lives of mankind and because of this, the country was put under complete lockdown in March 2020. The management of all human and non human resources was a great challenge during this period. A study on assessing management practices during COVID-19 was conducted online from friends and families located in villages, towns, cities and abroad constituting a sample of 107 respondents coping with this situation. The questionnaire regarding the management practices was formulated keeping in view the practices followed indoors, free time utilization and the advisories followed. It was observed that human energy consumption was increased during the lockdown period during fulfillment of family needs, the government advisories were properly followed by the people and people downloaded the AROGYA SETU app, purchased locally available goods and mostly followed the online transactions. The major recommendation is that people should be motivated /encouraged to follow the safety practices about the COVID-19.</jats:p

GENETIC DIVERGENCE AMONG MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.) INBRED LINES USING MORPHOMETRIC MARKERS

Genetic divergence study is imperative in breeding programmes in order to select distant parents. Forty maize inbred lines were assessed using morphometric markers to identify the potential inbred lines for yield and its component traits. The inbred lines were raised in α-RBD design replicated twice during kharif 2019. The morphological diversity analysis was done as per the standard statistical procedures using Mahalanobis D2-statistic. Analysis of variance revealed significant mean sum of squares due to genotypes for all the traits suggesting ample amount of genetic variability present among them. Moderate PCV, GCV and high heritability coupled with moderate genetic advance was observed for grain yield per plant, plant and cob placement height. Grain yield per plant exhibited significant positive correlation with all the traits except days to 50 per cent pollen shed and silking. Path analysis revealed high direct effects of days to 50 per cent pollen shed, harvest index, grains per row and 100 grain-weight on grain yield per plant therefore these morphometric traits would be the best selection indices to select high yielding genotypes. D2-statistics grouped 40 maize genotypes into three clusters. Cluster III has the highest cluster mean values for all the traits.Seven genotypes viz., 4186-4-05-1-1, LM-14, BAJIM-08-27, BIOM 10, LQPM24×1114-5, 9180-2, LDH 5(Vivek-21-1) were superior over the best check on the basis of mean performance and disease resistance and were diverse therefore, could be used in maize improvement program.</jats:p