OAR@ICRISATDevelopment and Diffusion of Improved Sorghum Cultivars in India: Impact on Growth and Variability in Yield DKumara CharyuluauthorM C SBantilanauthorSNedumaranauthorU KDebauthorSorghum is the third cereal crop after rice and wheat in India mostly grown under marginal and stress-prone areas of Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT). NARS, ICRISAT and private seed companies are the major stakeholders working for sorghum crop improvement in the last fifty years. Altogether more than 293 improved cultivars have been notified and made available to farmers during the same time. The current knowledge about spread and impact of sorghum improved crop varieties in the country is incomplete. Very little statistically valid information is available on the extent of adoption at national and sub-national levels. The present study made a humble attempt to address these issues with help of primary as well as secondary sources of data. The analysis has concluded that nearly 80 per cent of total sorghum areas are under improved cultivars which helped to increase the mean country productivity levels to the tune of 71 per cent between 1960 and 2010. The results also proved that adoption of improved cultivars increased the yields substantially and also reduced its variability in the country. Sorghum2011Conference or Workshop Item

For work being deposited by its own author: In self-archiving this collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata, I grant OAR@ICRISAT the right to store them and to make them permanently available publicly for free on-line. I declare that this material is my own intellectual property and I understand that OAR@ICRISAT does not assume any responsibility if there is any breach of copyright in distributing these files or metadata. (All authors are urged to prominently assert their copyright on the title page of their work.)

For work being deposited by someone other than its author: I hereby declare that the collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata that I am archiving at OAR@ICRISAT) is in the public domain. If this is not the case, I accept full responsibility for any breach of copyright that distributing these files or metadata may entail.

Clicking on the deposit button indicates your agreement to these terms.