Pearl millet variety with high yield potential
The Improved pearl millet has more tillers and yields more grains.
By Our Agriculture Correspondent
SCIENTISTS AT the department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, have developed an improved pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), also called Cumbu in Tamil and Bajra in Hindi. The high yielding pearl millet has more tillers and bears long ear heads.
The variety is resistant to downy mildew. The university has recently released this variety for commercial cultivation by farmers under the name CO (Cu) 9.
It is an improved population derived through population improvement of the ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) Composite ICMV 93752.
It was extensively tested under varying ecological conditions in both farmers' fields and research stations, according to the scientists.
The variety is suitable for growing in all pearl millet growing areas of Tamil Nadu.
It yielded an average of 2865 kg grains a hectare when raised under irrigated conditions (January-February and March-April).
When grown in rain fed conditions (June-July and September-October), it recorded an average yield of 2354 kg per hectare. Coming to harvest in 80 to 85 days, its performance was far superior to that of the ruling composite variety CO 7.
The new variety has acceptable grain colour (yellowish grey) and cooking quality. The grain has higher protein (13.68 per cent), reckon the scientists.
About 5 kg of seeds will be needed to cover a hectare with this variety. The seeds should be treated suitably with eco-friendly organisms to protect it against seed-borne pathogens. They should be treated with three packets (600 g) of Azospirillum inoculant before sowing. The main field should be thoroughly worked to get a good fine tilth.
Well rotten farmyard manure at the rate of 12.5 tonnes a hectare should be incorporated in to the soil. Ten packets (2 kg) of Azospirillum should be applied per hectare as basal dressing.
A spacing of 45 cm between rows and 15 cm within the rows should be maintained. A basal application of 37.5 kg nitrogen and 35 kg each of phosphorus and potash should be applied per hectare.
When the crop is about 30 days old, another dose of 37.5 kg is applied as top-dressing.
The plants are thinned on the 20th day of sowing, and weeding is done periodically to keep the field clean. Irrigation schedule should be planned well to suit the soil conditions.
The crop should be protected from shoot-fly and ear-head bug by using suitable botanical insecticides and other recommended eco-friendly integrated pest management strategies.
The crop is harvested when the ear-heads show uniform maturity. The ear-heads are cut and threshed in clean yards. Cattle relish the stalks when cut in to fine bits and fed to them.
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