A plausible screening approach for moisture stress tolerance in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) germplasm accessions using membership function value at the seedling stage

Finger millet is a drought-tolerant crop that grows better under water-limited conditions. However, a lack of moisture during germination affects seedling emergence and growth, ultimately affecting crop yield. Hence, identifying germplasm accessions that are drought tolerant could be of great importance to breeders. However, no systemic approach has been proposed for screening finger millet germplasm accession for moisture stress at the seedling stage. In the present study, we evaluated drought tolerance using PEG-8000 mediated moisture stress in 92 finger millet germplasm. The membership function value (MFV) was used as an index to assess and select finger millet germplasm for drought tolerance. Furthermore, a regression model was designed based on the mean MFV of all traits, which explained more than 95% of the variation in the total population. Of all the examined traits, the seedling vigour index was the most reliable, showing the highest correlation with drought tolerance at the seedling stage. We also developed an effective mathematical evaluation model for assessing finger millet germplasm for drought tolerance at the seedling stage. These findings laid the groundwork for further research into drought-tolerance mechanisms and the development of drought-tolerant finger millet cultivars.