Yield improvement compensates the grain nutrient concentration in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.): analysis using varieties released over years

Finger millet is a staple food and fodder crop in India and Africa. Breeding efforts have achieved yield improvement without emphasis on the grain quality. The general notion, that increase in yield will decrease the grain nutrient content, is the question of the present study. The results revealed that carbohydrate, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc content differed statistically among the varieties. Over the years, the protein content did not differ, but the zinc content decreased significantly. The correlations between the most nutrients showed a non-significant negative relationship with other nutrients, indicating the compensation between the nutrients. The protein and zinc contents were negatively and significantly related to the grain yield. The path analysis also showed that the protein and zinc contents had a high direct negative effect on grain yield. The mean of all nutrient contents had a statistically significant negative relationship with grain yield. Overall, the trends showed compensation between the total nutrient content and the grain yield. However, nutrient content, in particular the iron and zinc needs to be emphasized as additional traits in the yield improvement of finger millet.