Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is an important cereal crop in the arid and semi-arid regions of India and sub-Saharan Africa and is grown annually on about 30 mha for food, feed and fodder. Amongst cereal crops, pearl millet has the highest water use efficiency under water limiting environments; has the highest levels of tolerance to high temperatures during reproductive phase; and has very high salinity tolerance. Recently pearl millet is expanding its cultivation exclusively for forage purpose in marginal ecologies, but farmers have limited cultivar options.

1. Introduction
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is an important cereal crop in the arid and
semi-arid regions of India and sub-Saharan Africa and is grown annually on about 30 m
ha for food, feed and fodder. Amongst cereal crops, pearl millet has the highest water
use efficiency under water limiting environments; has the highest levels of tolerance
to high temperatures during reproductive phase; and has very high salinity tolerance.
Recently pearl millet is expanding its cultivation exclusively for forage purpose in
marginal ecologies, but farmers have limited cultivar options.
Objectives
▪▪ Identify sources with high stover yield and better forage quality traits; and initiate their
utilization in breeding programs;
▪▪ Identify Open Pollinated Varieties (OPVs) and hybrids with higher stover yield and better
forage quality.
Materials and Methodology
▪▪ A set of 242 pearl millet minicore germplasm accessions was evaluated for biomass linked
traits during summer and rainy seasons of 2013 at ICRISAT, Patancheru.
▪▪ Fifty high biomass hybrids (25 top crosses and 25 single crosses) and 55 genotypes
(germplasm and OPVs) including checks were evaluated for high biomass traits at five
locations in India during rainy season of 2013 and 2014.
▪▪ 51 genotypes (hybrids and OPVs/germplasm accessions) including checks were evaluated
for stover yield and stover quality related traits at ICRISAT, Patancheru during rainy season
of 2014.
Results
▪▪ Based on two season evaluation, about 10% best (21 accessions) having high fresh stover
yield (23 to 38 tons ha-1
) and dry stover yield (9 to 13 tons ha-1
) at 85-90 days after planting
were selected and further evaluated in the rainy season of 2014 along with checks at five
locations in India.
Pearl millet with higher stover yield and better forage
quality: identification of new germplasm and cultivars
SK Gupta1
, SKC Ghouse1
, DG Atkari1
and M Blümmel2
Sciencewithahumanface
About ICRISAT: www.icrisat.org
ICRISAT’s scientific information: EXPLOREit.icrisat.org
Oct2015
1. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. s.gupta@cgiar.org
2. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. m.blummel@cgiar.org. Presently based at ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Table 2: Stover yield and forage quality traits of promising OPVs/germplasm acces-
sions and hybrids identified based on multilocation trials of 2013 and 2014.
S.no Entry
Days to 50%
flowering (d)
Plant
height
(cm)
Fresh
stover
yield
(tons/ha)
Dry
stover
yield
(tons/ha)
Crude
protein
(%)*
In vitro
organic
matter
digestibility
(%)*
Metabolizable
energy
(MJ/kg DM)*
OPVs/germplasm accessions
1 ICMV 05222 83 308.0 40.1 17.9 8.1 42.2 5.7
2 IP 10077 81 305.5 36.9 17.4 6.8 42.0 5.7
3 IP 15564 82 276.3 35.8 16.7 7.4 44.1 6.0
4 IP 15535 81 302.8 34.8 16.6 8.0 43.8 6.0
5 ICMV 08111 77 304.9 37.7 16.3 6.4 45.0 6.3
Mean 81 299.5 37.1 17.0 7.3 43.4 5.9
Top Cross hybrids
1
ICMA
00999
X IP 6202 78 264.7 37.2 15.9 5.2 42.6 6.0
2
ICMA
00444
X IP 6202 72 261.2 35.4 14.5 6.0 39.5 5.5
3
ICMA
00444
X IP 11431 72 267.7 32.0 13.9 5.6 41.8 5.8
4
ICMA
01888
X
ICMV
05222
77 286.1 32.2 13.7 5.5 38.9 5.4
5
ICMA
01888
X IP 6140 74 284.1 33.2 13.6 5.8 40.9 5.6
Mean 75 272.8 34.0 14.3 5.6 40.7 5.7
Checks
1 PAC 981 (Hybrid) 74 284.1 38.8 17.0 6.6 40.6 5.6
2 ICMV 05777 (OPV) 76 286.7 32.8 14.7 7.6 41.9 5.6
Note: Evaluated at 5 locations of Gujarat and MP during rainy season of 2013 and 2014
* Analysed using NIRS at ILRI, Patancheru, India during rainy season, 2014
Conclusions
▪▪ New sources of germplasm and cultivars with higher stover yields and better forage
quality identified.
▪▪ Dry stover yield had positive correlation with in vitro organic matter digestibility
(r=0.42) for OPVs/germplasm accessions, and r=0.34 for hybrids (Fig 1a, 1b).
▪▪ Hybrids have the advantage of earliness in comparison to OPVs while producing almost
same quantity of dry stover yield.
Figure 1a. Relationship between stover IVOMD and stover
yield in pearl millet OPVs/germplasm accessions, rainy
season of 2014 at ICRISAT.
Figure 1b. Relationship between stover IVOMD and stover
yield in pearl millet hybrids, rainy season of 2014 at ICRISAT.
ICRISAT is a member of
the CGIAR Consortium
Table 1. Estimates of stover yield and forage quality traits in promising pearl millet
germplasm accessions, evaluated at 5 locations in India during rainy season of 2014
S.no Entry
Days to 50%
flowering (d)
Plant
height
(cm)
Fresh
stover yield
(tons/ha)
Dry stover
yield
(tons/ha)
Crude
protein (%)*
In vitro
organic matter
digestibility
(%)*
Metabolizable
energy
(MJ/kg DM)*
1 IP 22269 75 340.0 47.0 19.2 6.5 40.2 5.5
2 IP 20577 78 237.0 39.0 17.9 6.1 42.0 5.8
3 IP 20409 80 264.0 41.0 16.7 6.5 41.7 5.7
4 IP 15556 82 261.0 36.8 15.8 7.3 41.7 5.8
5 IP 14542 77 283.0 31.6 15.8 6.1 41.2 5.7
6 IP 10437 85 251.0 39.4 15.7 7.2 42.0 5.8
7 IP 19415 79 272.0 38.0 14.9 6.1 39.9 5.5
8 IP 10151 79 254.0 38.8 14.7 7.3 41.1 5.6
9 IP 14522 71 317.0 31.8 14.5 5.9 40.1 5.5
10 IP 14776 78 240.0 39.5 14.4 5.9 41.3 5.7
11 IP 5153 77 305.0 33.3 14.1 6.3 40.4 5.6
12 IP 14753 82 211.0 33.7 13.5 6.7 42.5 5.9
13 IP 20929 77 238.0 33.8 13.2 7.8 41.4 5.7
14 IP 14537 69 292.0 29.1 12.9 6.0 41.7 5.7
15 IP 14294 82 225.0 29.0 12.9 5.7 45.4 6.4
16 IP 3642 68 231.0 32.6 12.4 6.5 40.2 5.5
17 IP 20611 68 259.0 31.6 12.0 7.7 40.4 5.4
18 IP 17396 75 258.0 30.2 11.9 7.1 40.9 5.6
19 IP 5957 81 263.0 32.7 11.8 6.4 41.4 5.7
20 IP 6193 74 273.0 30.9 11.2 6.2 42.5 5.9
21 IP 11010 70 252.0 23.1 9.1 5.5 40.6 5.7
Note: Evaluated at 5 locations of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (MP) during rainy season, 2014
* Analysed using NIRS at ILRI, Patancheru, India during rainy season, 2014
▪▪ The dry stover yield of check OPVs varied from 15-21 tons ha-1
, and in check hybrids from
16 tons (DFMH 30) to 19.7 tons ha-1
(Nutrifeed). IP 22269 had highest dry stover yield (19
tons ha-1
), followed by IP 20577 (18 tons ha-1
) and IP 20409 (16.6 tons ha-1
) and total of 11
accessions had dry stover yield of >14 tons ha-1
. (Table 1)
▪▪ Identified 21 accessions had a wide range of stover nitrogen content (0.88 to 1.24%); in
vitro organic matter digestibility (39.8 to 45.4%); and Metabolizable Energy (ME) (5.3 to
6.4 MJ kg-1
). About 20 of these identified accessions had in vitro organic matter digestibility
of > 40%; and IP 14294 had highest in vitro organic matter digestibility (45.4%) along with
highest ME (6.4 MJ kg-1
).
▪▪ Identified accessions were subjected to selections, yielding about 270 early generation
inbreds (S1
-S3
), which will further be used for deriving breeding lines for the development
of new hybrids and OPVs with high stover yield and better forage quality.
▪▪ Based on the 2 year (2013-2014) multilocation evaluation (five locations each year) for
stover yield and at one location (ICRISAT) for stover quality traits, five best OPVs/germplasm
accessions had high stover yield in the range of 16.3 to 17.9 tons ha-1
, and in vitro organic
matter digestibility from 42 to 45%; and five best top cross hybrids had dry stover yield of
13.6 to 15.8 tons ha-1
with in vitro organic matter digestibility from 38.9 to 42.6%. (Table 2)
▪▪ Top cross hybrids matured about 10-15 days earlier than the OPVs/germplasm
accessions. (Table 2)
Photos: SK Gupta