Materials and methods Plant material PRM I genotype of finger millet was provided by Department of Molecular Biology & Genetic Engineering, G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. Seeds were sown in pots for germination. 20-day-old seedlings were transferred to hydroponic culture. Hydroponic culture and growth conditions Four raised racks (as shown in Figure 1) for the purpose of containing the growing medium (nutrient solution) were made ready for growing plants with three different treatments of nitrate viz. o.05 mM, o.1 mM and 0.5 mM and one without nitrate in glass house in controlled condition with 16/8 photoperiod