Profiling Ethiopian finger millet (Eleusine coracana) accessions for major agronomic traits and nutrient composition under varying drought stress

Finger millet ( Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is a drought-resilient cereal with notable agronomic and nutritional value, yet remains underutilized due to limited research and product development. The objective of this study was to profile genetically diverse Ethiopian finger millet accessions for major agronomic traits, drought response, and nutritional compositions under contrasting drought stress conditions to select genotypes for breeding or production. This study evaluated 448 Ethiopian accessions (landraces and improved varieties) for agronomic performance, drought responses and nutrient composition across three moisture regimes: nonstressed (Arsinegelle), moderately droughtprone (Maitsebri), and severely droughtstressed (Meiso). Field trials employed row-by-column design (64 × 14 with two replications). Significant (P < 0.001) effects of genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interaction were detected for all traits. Grain yield declined by ~ 60% at the severely stressed site. Considerable variation was observed for days to 50% flowering (78.5–107.5 days), days to maturity (101.0–109.5 days), plant height (80.0–182.5 cm), grain yield (0.5–3.2 t ha⁻¹), and thousandseed weight (1.2–3.0 g). Nutrient profiles varied significantly: amylose (18.1–0.7 %), starch (37.9–2.4 %), Fe (53.6–81.0 ppm), Zn (67.8–83.1 ppm). Black-seeded genotypes maintained higher yield and Fe/Zn under drought, while red‐seeded types flowered and matured earlier and produced larger seed size. Broad‐sense heritability exceeded 60% for drought tolerance score, flowering, and maturity, but remained below 30% for plant height, starch content and yield. Yield was negatively correlated with flowering time, maturity, drought scores and staygreen traits, but positively correlated with seed weight across environments. Principal component analysis explained > 67% of the variance in key traits across test sites, and hierarchical clustering grouped genotypes into four clusters. Eight accessions (G141, G423, G297, G247, G171, G204, G294, and G46) were identified as promising candidates for direct use or breeding for improved yield, nutrient density and drought resilience.