Proso millet is an important allotetraploid cereal crop; however, it is the least studied species of the Poaceae family, as it is an under-utilized crop. Genomic resources for proso millet are very limited compared to major crops. An understanding of the genetic relationships among germplasm resources is important for future breeding endeavors. In the present study, simplesequence repeat (SSR) markers were employed to assess the polymorphism and genetic diversity of 100 millet accessions from different countries, which were tested in the dry steppe zone conditions of the Akmola region from 2020 to 2022. The use of 20 SSR markers detected a total of 47 alleles, with an average allele number of 2.35 per locus among these proso accessions. Nine of them were polymorphic among the genotypes, which suggests that these SSR markers can be used for genetic studies. The results showed a moderate level of polymorphism information content (PIC) that averaged at 0.424, ranging from 0.125 to 0.795. The markers SSR-67, SSR-82, SSR-85 and SSR-109 showed high PIC values of 0.536, 0.756, 0.795 and 0.758, respectively. Markers SSR 85 and SSR 86 significantly correlated to agronomic traits, such as productive tillering (PT) and grain yield (GY). The genetic structure, UPGMA cluster and PCoA assay indicated that the accessions that originated from Central Asia had higher genetic diversity. Based on structure (K = 3), all the accessions were divided into three groups, where the gene pool that originated from Central Asia wasdetected in all three clusters. Based on a principal component analysis (PCA), the accessions of Central Asian origin were genetically closer to the North Asian group.

Colchicine is a substance used to induce mutations in order to regulate important agronomic traits. The genotypes Pavlodarskoe 4, Quartet, and PI 289324, originating from Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Hungary, respectively, were used as materials. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different colchicine concentrations (0.0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1%) and treatment times (6, 12, and 24 h) on the agronomic traits of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and to assess the genetic diversity of the M₂ generation using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The experiment was conducted in 2021 for the M₁ generation and in 2022 for the M₂ generation, from May to September. The percentage of field germination decreased with increasing colchicine concentrations and exposure durations. The mean field germination percentages were 48.57% in Pavlodarskoe 4, 43.28% in Quartet, and 53.14% in PI 289324 under colchicine treatment. Chlorophyll-defective M₁-M₂ plants were obtained using various colchicine concentrations and exposure periods. The highest number of mutational modifications was attained with the 0.08–0.1% concentrations of colchicine. Based on the research results, a total of 248 plants with chlorophyll-defective mutations were selected from 2214 plants. The growing seasons of M₁ and M₂ plants were shortened by higher colchicine concentrations (0.08–0.1%) combined with soaking times of 12 and 24 h. Thus, the longest growing season (84 days) was observed with a 6 h treatment time for PI 289324, while the shortest (78 days) was recorded for 12 and 24 h treatments. The possibility of obtaining morphological mutations using colchicine has been confirmed. The ISSR primers amplified a total of 1333 fragments; 1281 bands were found to be polymorphic, and 52 bands were monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism varied from 80 to 100%, with an average of 96.11%. Most of the different allelic bands were detected when applying the 0.08% colchicine concentration. These positive variations are a great opportunity to use colchicine as a tool for improving agronomic traits in plant breeding.

Proso millet is an important allotetraploid cereal crop, however, it is the least studied species of the Poaceae family as it is an under-utilized crop. Genomic resources of proso millet are very limited compared to the major crops. Understanding of genetic relationships among germplasm resources is important for future breeding endeavors. In the present study, the SSR markers were employed to assess the polymorphism and genetic diversity of 100 millet accessions from different countries, which were tested in the dry steppe zone conditions of the Akmola region from 2020 to 2022. The use of 20 SSR markers detected a total of 47 alleles with an average allele number of 2.35 per locus among these proso accessions. Nine of them were polymorphic among genotypes, which suggests that these SSR markers can be used for genetic studies. The results showed a moderate level of polymorphism information content (PIC) averaged at 0.424, ranging from 0.125 to 0.795. The markers SSR 67, SSR-82, SSR-85 and SSR-109 showed high PIC values, 0.536, 0.756, 0.795 and 0.758 respectively. Markers SSR 85 and SSR 86 significantly correlated to agronomic traits, such as productive tillering (PT) and grain yield (GY). The genetic structure, UPGMA cluster and PCoA assay indicated that the accessions originated from Central Asia had higher genetic diversity. Based on Structure (K=3), all the accessions were divided into three groups, whereas the gene pool originated from Central Asia were detected in all the three clusters. Based on principal component analysis (PCA), the accessions of Central Asian origin were genetically closer to the North Asian group.

. Colchicine (C22H25NO6) is a substance used for inducing mutations in order to regulate important agronomic traits. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations (0.0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1%) and treatment time (6, 12 and 24 h) of colchicine on agronomic traits of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and to assess the genetic diversity of M2 generations using inter simple sequence repeat markers (ISSR). The experiment was conducted in 2021 for the M1-generation and in 2022 for the M2-generation, from May to September. The percentage of the field germination was decreased with the increasing colchicine concentration and exposure duration. The chlorophyll-defective M1-M2 plants were obtained using various concentrations and exposure periods of colchicine. The highest amount of mutational modifications was attained at 0.08-0.1% concentrations colchicine. A total of 248 plant families with chlorophyll-defective mutations based on the research results were selected from 2214 families. The growing season of M1- and M2 plants were diminished under higher colchicine concentration (0.08-0.1%) combined with soaking time. Thus, the highest indicator of growing season (84 days) was observed at six h treatment time for PI 289324, while the fewest (78 days) was recorded at 12 and 24 h. The possibility of obtaining morphological mutations using colchicine has been confirmed. The ISSR primers amplified a total of 1333 fragments, 1281 bands were found to be polymorphic and 52 bands monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism varied from 80 to 100 % with an average of 96.11%. Our results showed that most of the bands were found at 0.08% colchicine concentration. These positive variations are a great opportunity to use colchicine as a tool for improving agronomic traits in plant breeding.

This study examined the genetic diversity and relationships among 67 proso millet genotypes, comprising different varieties from eight origin groups.

The research aimed to study the correlations between the valuable agronomic traits of oat (Avena sativa), which are necessary in plant selection programs to increase productivity. The study was conducted in 2023-2024 in the field experimental plots of A.I. Barayev Research and Production Centre for Grain Farming; the observations were carried out using biometric measurements of plant height and morphological features of plant productivity. Biological material consisted of 16 oat genotypes; experimental data were collected from all genotypes. The results were interpreted by determining the correlation coefficients, analysing the variance of multiple regression, and studying the relationship between the traits. The study shows that productive tillering is in a linear relationship with the other characteristics, except for the weight and number of grains in a panicle (r=-0.39-0.46). According to the results of correlation analysis, the following pairs of the related traits were determined: weight of 1000 grains and plant height, seed weight per plant and panicle length (r=0,38-0,46), productive tillering and seeds weight per panicle (r=0,46); that can be effectively used to achieve high yield in selection process. According to the results of structural analysis of productive elements, the genotypes featuring a complex of valuable traits were selected: Yarovoy and Fax varieties, as well as the FL 0524 sample. These valuable genotypes can be recommended as sources for increasing productive properties in oat plants