Latitudinal patterns of diversity in the world collection of pearl millet landraces at the ICRISAT genebank

Abstract

The genebank at ICRISAT, Patancheru, India conserves a total of 19,063 pearl millet landraces from latitudes ranging from 33.008 in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) to 34.378 in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). In the present study, the NH was found to be the major region for growing pearl millet landraces (80.5%). More landraces were found at lower latitudes (, 208) in both hemispheres than at higher latitudes. The latitude range of 108-158 in the NH and 158-208 in the SH were found to be important source regions for the prevalence of pearl millet, with 39.6% and 13.1% in the world collection of landraces, respectively. Landraces from lower-latitude regions on either side of the equator varied widely for all traits. Landraces from the 58 -108N latitude region flowered late and grew tall in the rainy and post-rainy seasons and produced more tillers. Landraces from the 108 -158N latitude region produced few tillers and had long and thick panicles with larger seeds. Long-bristled bird-resistant landraces were considerable at latitudes of 108-158S and 208-258S. The minimum temperature at the collection sites was found to be one of the important factors for determining the patterns of the prevalence of pearl millet across the latitudes. Late-maturing, tall and high-tillering landraces from lower-latitude regions were better sources for fodder production. Earlymaturing landraces producing long and thick panicles with large seeds from mid-latitude regions (158-208) in both hemispheres were useful for developing high-yielding cultivars. Using the latitudinal patterns of diversity in pearl millet landraces, missions may be launched to explore high-diversity, under-collected and threatened areas for the collection of materials of interest at latitudes of 158-208.

Adaptation Pattern and Genetic Potential of Indian Pearl Millet Named Landraces Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank

“…Variation in latitude of collections will have the impact on diversity among landraces. The close association of latitude and climatic conditions at collection sites and agronomic performance of landraces under study indicates no effect of geographic province (Upadhyaya et al, 2007;Upadhyaya et al, 2014). In the present study, landraces of cluster 1, except Pitta ganti, and those of cluster 2 were adapted to higher latitudes (14.53 o N to 30.90 o N) characterized by longer days, higher mean maximum temperature and low mean annual rainfall (<425 mm).…”

“…These landraces may be useful in breeding early-medium maturing drought/temperature-tolerant varieties of pearl millet (Fig. 2) (Upadhyaya et al, 2014). All landraces of cluster 3 and Arisi, Kattu cumbu, Kullan, Nattu cumbu, Oomi cumbu, Pokku cumbu, Pottu cumbu, and Vellai of cluster 4 were from lower latitudes, characterized by day length close to 12 h and lower monthly mean minimum and maximum temperature.…”

Genetic Diversity Analysis among Inbred Lines of Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] Based on Grain Yield and Yield Component Characters

“…The preliminary evaluation of breeding material to identify potent parents for hybridization programme based on phenotypic data is fast, simple and can be considered as a general approach for assessing genetic diversity among genetically diverse lines. Likewise, grouping of genetic material based on quantitative data in pearl millet was reported by Shanmuganathan et al, (2006), Vidhyadhar and Devi (2007), Govindaraj et al, (2011), Drabo et al, (2013, Sathya et al, (2013), Upadhyaya et al, (2013), Sankar et al, (2014), Chaudhary et al, (2015), and Kumar et al, (2015). The average D 2 values within (intra cluster) distance and between (inter cluster) clusters are given in table 4.…”

Plant Genetic Resources

“…Though, the evaluation data used in the present study are preliminary in nature, and recorded over years, these data reflect the differences in the genetic makeup of the landraces in terms of clear patterns of diversity (Upadhyaya et al, 2007). Further, the present study helps in identifying suitable sites for regeneration and evaluation of trait specific germplasm, introduction of appropriate pearl millet into different regions and emphasizes similar studies on germplasm collections of other crops for enhanced use of germplasm in crop improvement programs.…”

“…Therefore, the assessment of diversity patterns in relation to the crop ecology of more homogeneous and smaller latitudinal ranges reveals patterns of diversity in a better way (Upadhyaya et al, 2007) (Table 4). Hellmers and Burton (1972) .…”