Molecular Characterization of Global Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana, L. Gaertn) germplasm Reaction to Striga in Kenya

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana, L. Gaertn) is an important food crop in Africa and Asia. The parasitic weed Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth limits finger millet production through reduced yield in agro-ecologies where they exist. The damage of Striga to cereal crops is more severe under drought and low soil fertility. This study aims to determine genetic basis for reaction to Striga hermonthica among the selected germplasm of finger millets through genotyping by sequencing (GBS). One hundred finger millet genotypes were evaluated for reaction to Striga hermonthica infestation under field conditions at Alupe and Kibos in Western Kenya. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) consisting of 10 x 10 square (triple lattice) under Striga (inoculated) and no Striga conditions and plant growth monitored to maturity after 110 days. All genotypes were genotyped by genotyping by sequencing (GBS) and data analyzed using the non-reference based Universal Network Enabled Analysis Kit (UNEAK) pipeline. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) were done to establish the association of detected Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) with Striga reaction based on field results. In molecular analysis 117,542 SNPs from raw GBS data used in GWAS revealed that markers TP 85424 and TP 88244 were associated with Striga resistance in the 95 genotypes. Principal Component Analysis revealed that the first and third component axes accounted for 2.5 and 8% of total variance respectively and the genotypes were distributed according to their reaction to Striga weed. Genetic diversity analysis grouped the 95 accessions into three major clusters containing; 32 (A), 56 (B), and 7 (C) genotypes. All finger millet genotypes that showed high resistance to Striga in the field were from cluster B while the most susceptible genotypes were from clusters A and C. Results revealed genetic variation for Striga resistance in cultivated finger millet genotypes and hence the possibility of marker –assisted breeding for resistance to Striga.