Heterosis and Combining Ability among African Pearl Millet Landraces

Abstract

Breeding procedures used in pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] improvement in India and the USA are aimed at exploitation of hybrid vigor for both grain and forage yields. Selection efforts in Africa have been limited to intrapopulation improvement for grain yield. Knowledge of heterotic patterns and combining ability of the widely cultivated African landraces would be useful in the development of a sound breeding program in Africa. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the combining ability and heterosis among African pearl millet populations and to explore the utility of inter‐population improvement for the development of high yielding varieties and hybrids. Five populations and their 10 interpopulation crosses were evaluated in a randomized complete‐block design with six replications at two locations in Niger during the 1989 and 1990 rainy seasons. Plant height, flowering time, natural incidence of downy mildew, spike length, grain yield, and 1000‐seed weight were measured in different populations. Significant differences among entries for most of the traits were observed. Better‐parent heterosis for grain yield ranged from 25 (Iniari × Ugandi) to 81% (Mansori × Ex.Bornu). Six of the crosses showed significant heterosis and gave 36 to 81% more grain yield than their better parent. All crosses except one were significantly more tolerant to downy mildew than their better parent. Mean squares for general combining ability were significant (P < 0.05) for most traits indicating the importance of additive gene effects for these traits. The large heterotic effects and the magnitude of the additive effects observed in the experiment should be useful in choosing pearl millet landraces for intercrossing in the development of cultivars with improved grain yield.

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“…The average values for heterosis for grain yield were of the same order of magnitude as those reported by Ouendeba et al (1993). Only for the TStress zone did we find higher heterosis values, which are probably attributable to the relatively poor adaptation of the Rajasthan landrace populations to the dry season growing conditions at Patancheru in southern India (Bidinger et al, 1994).…”

Characterization of West and Central African accessions from a pearl millet reference collection for agro-morphological traits and Striga resistance

“…The great potential of pearl millet hybrids has already been confirmed (Ouendeba et al, 1993;Bidinger et al, 1994Bidinger et al, , 2005Yadav et al, 2000) and the initial release of hybrids in India in the mid-1960s sixties contributed largely to the overall productivity. It increased from 5.2 kg/ha/yr (1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965) to 24.0 kg/ha/yr (1996-2012) (Yadav and Rai, 2013).…”

Efeito da irrigação, épocas de corte da forragem e doses de nitrogênio sobre o rendimento de sementes de milheto

“…Carámbula e Elizondo (1968) constataram que um dos maiores benefícios do N na produção de sementes de gramíneas forrageiras é o aumento do número de espiguetas e do tamanho das inflorescências. Segundo Quendeba et al (1993), o comprimento da panícula é importante critério utilizado pelos produtores na seleção de panículas de milheto para a obtenção de sementes para o plantio. O PP variou para épocas de corte, sendo que a E1 apresentou um peso de 5,98g e foi significativamente superior à E2 (4,33g).…”