Genetic Improvement of Pearl Millet for Grain and Forage Production: Cytogenetic Manipulation and Heterosis Breeding

Jauhar, P P and Rai, K N and Ozias-Akins, P and Chen, Z and Hanna, W W (2006) Genetic Improvement of Pearl Millet for Grain and Forage Production: Cytogenetic Manipulation and Heterosis Breeding. In: Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement: Cereals. Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement, 2 . Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, USA, pp. 281-307. ISBN 978-0-8493-1432-2

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Abstract

Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Brown (= Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.) Stapf et Hubb.), is the most important member of the genus Pennisetum of the tribe Paniceae in the family Poaceae. The name Pennisetum was derived as a hybrid of two Latin words — penna , meaning feather, and seta , meaning bristle — and describes the typically feathery bristles of its species (Jauhar 1981a). Pearl millet is the sixth most important cereal crop in the world, ranking after wheat, rice, maize, barley, and sorghum. It is a valuable grain and fodder crop and is cultivated in many parts of the world, although in the U.S. it is grown primarily as a forage crop on less than 1 million ha. In tropical and warm-temperature regions of Australia and some other countries, it is also grown as a forage crop (Jauhar 1981a). Pearl millet is an ideal organism for basic and applied research. In their extensive reviews, Jauhar (1981a) and Jauhar and Hanna (1998) compiled the available literature on cytogenetics and breeding of pearl millet and related species. This article covers some basic aspects of cytogenetics of pearl millet, its cytogenetic manipulation with a view to enrich it with alien genes, aspects of heterosis breeding facilitated by the cytoplasmic-nuclear male sterility (CMS) system and possibly by apomixis, and direct gene transfer into otherwise superior cultivars.

Item Type: Book Section
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
CRP: UNSPECIFIED
Series Name: Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement
Subjects: Mandate crops > Millets
Depositing User: Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited: 28 Feb 2014 10:11
Last Modified: 28 Feb 2014 10:11
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/7570
Acknowledgement: UNSPECIFIED
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