Amaranths are dicotyledonous plants with high yield potential, a high mineral uptake rate, short days, and high adaptability. It has been extensively investigated as a model C4 plant. The objectives of the current study were to estimate genetic diversity, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield-contributing traits of amaranth genotypes based on agro-morphological traits. The study was done on one hundred twenty amaranth genotypes planted over two growing seasons using an alpha lattice design with two replications. The analysis of variance showed the presence of signi cant variation (P ≤ 0.001) between genotypes, years, and their interactions for most of the studied traits. Among the genotypes, based on their performance, promising genotypes KAZ-059, 225713, KAZ-058 and KEN-019, 242530, and 212890 exhibited higher leaf area, branch number, and plant height at maturity, and plant height at owering. Selection based on these traits could be effective for amaranth leaf yield improvement. On the other hand, KEN-016, KEN-020, KAZ-060, KEN-010, KEN-018, and 22571 produced high grain yield along with better leaf area, axillary in orescence length, terminal in orescence lateral length, terminal in orescence stalk length, grain sink lling rate, and thousand seed weight, indicating phenotypic-based selection on these traits might be reliable for grain yield improvement in amaranth genotypes. These genotypes were chosen as a result due to their high yield potential and good yield-related traits. Future selection efforts for amaranth should therefore continue to evaluate the genotypes under various environmental conditions. These genotypes were selected as a result because they had a high potential for yield and desirable traits that might boost yield.Amaranth is a high-yielding, climate-smart, nutrient-rich plant that is essential for meeting rising world demand while also reducing dependency on a few cereal crops. The potential of both native and exotic species for food or industrial must be harnessed, or new types must be created (Janovská et al., 2012). Therefore, amaranth has become more important in recent years as a substitute crop for other major cereals. The amaranth plant not only thrives in a variety of climates (Lakshmi & Vimala, 2000), but it is also one of the few exceptionally nutritionally multi-purpose crops. It is used as a vegetable, cereal, medicinal plant, dye plant, forage plant, ornamental plant, as well as a fuel source (Mlakar et al., 2009;Sheikh & Singh, 2013). Historically an important component of African agriculture, amaranth is currently farmed in Ethiopia and other East African nations, mostly as a vegetable (Emire & Arega, 2012;Corke et al., 2016). Due to the great nutritional value of both its leaves and seeds, amaranth is a superior food source value (Barba de la Rosa et al., 1992;Fasuyi et al., 2007). The protein, calcium, dietary ber, and gluten-free starch content of the seeds is a higher and better balance of essential amino acids than that of grains and legumes (Singhal & Ku...

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Amaranths are dicotyledonous plants with high yield potential, a high mineral uptake rate, short days, and high adaptability. It has been extensively investigated as a model C4 plant. The objectives of the current study were to estimate genetic diversity, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield-contributing traits of amaranth genotypes based on agro-morphological traits. The study was done on one hundred twenty amaranth genotypes planted over two growing seasons using an alpha lattice design with two replications. The analysis of variance showed the presence of significant variation (P ≤ 0.001) between genotypes, years, and their interactions for most of the studied traits. Among the genotypes, based on their performance, promising genotypes KAZ-059, 225713, KAZ-058 and KEN-019, 242530, and 212890 exhibited higher leaf area, branch number, and plant height at maturity, and plant height at flowering. Selection based on these traits could be effective for amaranth leaf yield improvement. On the other hand, KEN-016, KEN-020, KAZ-060, KEN-010, KEN-018, and 22571 produced high grain yield along with better leaf area, axillary inflorescence length, terminal inflorescence lateral length, terminal inflorescence stalk length, grain sink filling rate, and thousand seed weight, indicating phenotypic-based selection on these traits might be reliable for grain yield improvement in amaranth genotypes. These genotypes were chosen as a result due to their high yield potential and good yield-related traits. Future selection efforts for amaranth should therefore continue to evaluate the genotypes under various environmental conditions. These genotypes were selected as a result because they had a high potential for yield and desirable traits that might boost yield.