Performance of landraces and hybrids of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] under good management in the arid zone

Bidinger, F R and Sharma, M M and Yadav, O P (2008) Performance of landraces and hybrids of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] under good management in the arid zone. Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding, 68 (2). pp. 146-148. ISSN 0019-5200

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Abstract

The limited adoption of modern pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) hybrids in the arid zone of western Rajasthan has been attributed to the lack of hybrids with sufficient adaptation to this zone, a conclusion based largely on the on-farm performance of hybrids under traditional management systems. The objective of this research was to determine if this conclusion is also true under improved management conditions. This study compared six recommended hybrids and six traditional landraces in 16 environments created through a combination of locations and years over five crop seasons. Across all environments the average grain yield ranged from 439 kg ha−1 to 3200 kg ha−1. The mean grain yield of the landraces was similar to that of the hybrids but the landraces provided significantly higher biomass and stover yield. Only above a mean trial grain yield of 2000 kg ha−1 the hybrids outyielded the landraces for grain productivity.These results confirm that even under well managed, but rainfed, arid zone environments, current hybrids offer farmers little advantage over their traditional landraces.

Item Type: Article
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
CRP: UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: Pennisetum glaucum, pearl millet, landraces, hybrids, grain yield, response to environment.
Subjects: Mandate crops > Millets
Depositing User: Mr Sanat Kumar Behera
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2011 13:08
Last Modified: 18 Oct 2011 13:09
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/2860
Official URL: http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijo...
Projects: UNSPECIFIED
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement: The authors would like to express their appreciation to the Director of Research, Rajasthan Agricultural University, for permission to use research facilities at the Nagaur and Mandor Research Stations, to ICRISAT for financial support of the research, and to Mr. D. Dharani and Ms. Rekha Badam of ICRISAT for assistance with the conduct of the field experiments and data analysis, respectively.
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