Qualitative trait variation in Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] germplasm from Western and Southern Ethiopia

Three thousand tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] single panicle derived lines representing 60 populations from western and southern parts of Ethiopia were characterized for panicle form, pigmentation of lemma and anther, caryopsis color, number of main shoot culm internodes, and counts of florets/spikelet at the basal, middle and apical parts of the panicle at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center during the 1999 main season. The objectives were to assess the diversity patterns of the germplasm with respect to regions and altitude zones. Among the eight characters, high Shannon-Weaver diversity indices (H') were noted for anther color (0.71) and number of apical spikelet florets (0.68), and the lowest occurred for panicle form (0.40). Monomorphism (H'=0.00) was observed for panicle form, lemma color and number of middle spikelet florets each in three different populations. The overall diversity index for all populations was 0.53. In the analysis of variance of H' estimates, substantial (p<0.05) regional differences were obtained for lemma color, number of culm internodes, and counts of middle and basal spikelet florets. Clinal variation was significant for panicle form, lemma and seed color, and for the overall mean of traits. Over all traits, mean H' values declined from 0.60 to 0.46 with an increase in the altitude zone of origin from below 1800 to over 2400 meters above sea level. Overall, the study showed substantial diversity in the test tef germplasm.