Predicting the Yield Potential of Guinea Grass (\u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Jacq.) Genotypes across India through G x E Analysis

A native of Africa, Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) was introduced to almost all tropical countries as a source of animal fodder. It is an ideal forage plant being perennial in growth habit, grows well on a wide variety of soils and tolerant of shade and fire, but not to water logging or severe drought. It also responds quickly to fertilizer and watering. Because of these desirable features, guinea grass is well established throughout tropical countries of both hemispheres where it plays an important role in dairy production. Owing to the cultivation of this crop in varied agro-climatic conditions it is very common to get varied relative performances from the same cultivars when they are evaluated in different environments or in different years. The variations that occur in the performance of cultivars are attributed to the effect of the genotype × environment (G × E) interaction (Haldane, 1946; Falconer and Mackay, 1996). The selection of genotypes to maximise yield when genotype rank changes occur across environments is complicated because of the complexity of genotype responses. This type of interaction reduces selection efficiency and the accuracy of cultivar recommendation (Crossa and Cornelius, 1997). Though guinea grass is in cultivation throughout the world and a good variability is available, concerted efforts have not been made adequately to validate and interpret the effects of G x E interaction on green fodder yield. As a result, the genetic improvement in guinea grass for fodder yield and quality has become impasse. Hence an attempt was made to study the interactive effects between genotype and environment on green fodder yield

A new high yielding black kolukattai grass variety CO 2 (Cenchrus setigerus) suitable for Pasture lands

Cenchrus setigerus is commonly known as black kolukkattai grass and is a herbaceous perennial pasture land grass. TNCS 265 is a selection from Kangayam local developed at Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. TNCS 265 had registered high biomass yield in Station Trials (38.9 t/ha), Multi Location Trials (50.5 t/ha) and in On Farm Trials (46.8 t/ha) which is 12.75, 21.3 and 19.7 per cent yield increase over the check CO 1, respectively. The culture TNCS 265 was promoted to All India Coordinated Research Projects on Forage Crops & Utilization trials during the year 2016 to 2018 and it was evaluated at nine locations in the South zone. Among the cultures evaluated, TNCS 265 registered a mean green fodder yield of 69.0 t/ ha than the national check CAZRI-76 (54.87 t/ha) and the qualifying variety IGFRI-96-706 (57.98 t/ha) which showed an improvement of 25.76 and 19.01 per cent yield increase over the check, respectively. It ranked first in green fodder yield in all three years of evaluation, under AICRP trials in south zone. It has the crude protein content of 8.18 per cent. The fibre fractions such as Acid Detergent Fibre (%) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (%) were comparatively lesser (42.5 & 64.17 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (45.43 & 70.4 %) indicating higher digestibility and intake of green fodder of proposed entry. It was also evident from its higher value of in vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (55.47 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (51.93 %). Hence, considering the stable performance of TNCS 265 (Cenchrus setigerus), it was proposed and released as black kolukkattai grass CO 2 for pasture land cultivation in the south zone of India during 2019 and notified as per Gazette Notification No. S.O. 99(E). dt. 06.01.2020 for general cultivatio