Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
In the present investigation, 20 crosses of pearl millet
(Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.) and their nine parental
combinations consisting of four landrace-based and
five elite exotic populations were evaluated in four
contrasting seasons within arid ecosystem in order to
study their response pattern to a wide range of
environmental conditions. In most severe drought year,
the landrace-based populations outyielded other two
groups by a margin of 33-72%. In favourable conditions,
exotic elite populations provided significantly higher
grain yield than landraces with average degree of
superiority being 25-45% across two seasons. The
hybridization between landrace-based and elite
populations resulted into enhanced adaptation range
of crosses, beyond that of their parents. Individual
landraces and elite populations differed significantly
in their general combining ability (gca) effects though
landraces had, in general, more pronounced gcaeffects
than elite populations. Landrace Jakharana and elite
population ESRC provided their crosses both
adaptation to stress conditions and also higher
potential productivity. On the contrary, BarPop was
established as an appropriate parent for producing
cultivars with general adaptation giving high stover
yield but with a significant penalty for grain yield.
ERajPop appeared more suitable for producing grain
type materials while WRajPop emerged suitable to
produce dual-purpose materials. The elite populations
MC and EC had effects for specific adaptation to
drought conditions for grain yield productivity. The
popUlations BSEC established as promising parent for
grain yield but not for stover yield across environments.
Results demonstrated that there are exploitable
differences among landraces and elite populations for
their ability to produce genetic material with a variety
of combinations for grain and stover productivity and
with differential adaptation pattern. Implication of these
findings in pearl millet breeding for arid zone
conditions is discussed.
Keywords: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), drought adaptation, landraces, genetic diversification
Year: 2007
Volume: 67
Issue: 4
Article DOI: NA
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
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