Geographical Gaps and Diversity in Deenanath Grass (Pennisetum pedicellatumTrin.) Germplasm Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank

Abstract

The genebank at ICRISAT, India conserves 134 accessions of Deenanath grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin.) from eight countries. A predicted probability map developed using FloraMap indicated 194 provinces in 21 countries of Asia and Africa as geographical gaps. All aceessions were annual and days to 50% flowering ranged from 43 to 109 days, number of total tillers/plant from 275 to 2,247 and number of productive tillers per plant from 114 to 1261. Accession IP 21821 produced maximum total tillers (2,247) and IP 21850 scored maximum (9) for forage yield potential. Early flowering (43 days) and high tillering (2,247) accessions of cluster 1 were considered as a promising source for early cuttings of green fodder. Mean diversity (H`) for quantitative traits (H`=0.591 + 0.010) was higher than that for qualitative traits (H`=0.284 + 0.089). Early flowering, high tillering habit and higher levels of resistance to downy mildew make the Deenanath grass important.

Collection and evaluation of genetic diversity in Dinanath grass (Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin.) for forage yield and leaf blight resistance

“…The genetic drift and selection could be the cause greater diversity within a geographical region. The results are in agreement with the previous findings of Upadhyaya et al (2014) for similar reasons of diversity in Dinanath grass. maximum value of association was recorded with plant height -1 (r=0.42), followed by tillers , penultimate leaf length, -1 panicle length, peduncle length, penultimate leaf width and days to maturity.…”

“…During evaluation of collected germplasm the meteorological observations including weekly whereas high CV were recorded for flag leaf width, penultimate leaf width, number of tillers per plant, plant height and dry matter yield (Table 1). High variability in biomass yield and its contributing traits were also reported in global Dinanath grass collection by Upadhyaya et al (2014) and Mishra et al (2009). High variability recorded among biomass contributing traits suggest further scope of improvement through new breeding tools.…”

“…belongs to the tribe Paniceae of family Poaceae and widely distributed in West Africa and India. In India, it is distributed in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar islands (Nayar et al, 2009;Upadhyaya et al, 2014). It is probably spread from India to the South East Asia and Northern Australia (Schmelzer, 1997).…”

“…But it has not received due attention from germplasm collectors. The diversity of P. pedicellatum distributed in different parts of the country is not represented in the collected genepool in International and national genebanks; and a geographical collection gaps are present mainly in southwestern part of India (Upadhyaya et al, 2014).…”

Pearl millet

“…Toward this at ICRISAT, gap analyses of cultivated pearl millet germplasm from different geographical regions like west and central Africa (WCA), Asia, and east and southern Africa (ESA) and also for wild relatives like P. glaucum ssp. monodii and P. pedicellatum (Deenanath grass) were made to identify the missing diversity in germplasm assembled in its genebank (Upadhyaya et al, 2009b(Upadhyaya et al, , 2010(Upadhyaya et al, , 2014a(Upadhyaya et al, , 2014b. The WCA region, being the center of diversity for pearl millet, has germplasm sources for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.…”