Landraces of pearl millet (Pennisetum g/aucum) are
potential sources of adaptation to stress conditions.
Genetic variation among landraces is of vital importance
to breeding programmes that aim to produce improved
landrace-based cultivars for marginal growing environments. Twenty-eight landraces of pearl millet from
Rajasthan were evaluated in two contrasting environments
to estimate genetic variation for nine traits including grain
yield. Trait association was also studied with correlation
analysis. Significant genetic variation was observed for
six traits including time to flower, dry stover and total
biomass yields. There were no genetic differences for
panicles/plant and threshing percentage while differences
for grain yield per se were significant at only 10% level
of probability. Heritability estimates were low to moderate
and ranged from 11 to 52%. Expected genetic advance
with 5% selection intensity, expressed as per cent of
mean, varied from 2-10%. Correlation analysis showed
that grain yield was most strongly associated with biomass
yield and stover yield. Plant height, panicle length and
threshing percentage were also significantly associated
with grain yield. However, individual trait could explain
only 22-34% of variation in grain yield. Comparison between
landraces and improved cultivars revealed that, in general,
the landraces performed better in stress conditions while
high yielding modern cultivars were clearly superior in
more productive environment. In view of the limited
variation for grain yield per se, the genetic diversification
of landraces is suggested
Keywords: Pennisetum glaucum, pearl millet, landrace, adaptation, genetic variation and selection
Year: 2001
Volume: 61
Issue: 4
Article DOI: NA
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
O. P. Yadav, E. Weltzien R and D. C. Bhandari info_circle