Summary of composite and variety trials ICRISAT Pearl Millet Breeding 1977-1986

The purpose of this report is to provide information on the objectives, materials and methods, and status of statistical analysis of ICRISAT trials involving composites and varieties of pearl millet. The documentation of this information mill aid interpretation and combined analyses of previous experiments..

Early-maturing dual-purpose sorghums: Agronomic trait variation and covariation among landraces

Landrace cultivars represent potentially valuable source material for breeding dual-purpose (grain and stover) sorghums. To characterize the genetic variation and interrelationships for major agronomic traits among potential dual-purpose sorghum landraces, 74 accessions, primarily from Southern Africa, the Sudan, and India, were evaluated in five environments at Patancheru, India. These environments, at 17°N with 520-540 mm rainfall during the growing season, are representative of the major sorghum-growing areas in India and the Sudanian Zone of Western and Central Africa. Significant genetic variation and high heritabilities (P = 0.01, h2= 0.63-0.92) were observed for seedling vigour, grain and stover yields, growth rate and harvest index. Time to flower was correlated with stover yield (r = 0.48, P = 0.01) and an index (Iev) of total economic value (r = 0.44, P = 0.01) but not with grain yield (r = 0.22, P = 0.05). Grain and stover yields varied independently (r = 0.22, P = 0.05) and were similarly related to Iev, values (r = 0.79 and r = 0.77 (P = 0.01), respectively). The 13 landraces with the highest Iev values (adjusted for maturity) had above-average growth rates and harvest indices that ranged from 20 to 38%. Landraces from Botswana and India were more highly represented in the high Iev set than in the full set of accessions

Recurrent Selection for Increased Grain Yield and Resistance to Downy Mildew in Pearl Millet

Six pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) composites were subjected to three or more cycles of selection in multilocational yield trials and downy mildew disease nurseries in India. The base and selected populations were tested (a) over four years at three locations in India (11° to 29°N), (b) under terminal-drought and optimal moisture conditions for two years, and (c) under induced downy mildew infections to determine the impacts of selection on grain yield, agronomic traits, and resistance to downy mildew (Sclerospora graminicola Sacc. Schroet.). Mean grain yield increases for four composites undergoing three to six cycles of selection ranged between 23 to 94 kg ha-1 cycle-1 (0.9 to 4.9 % cycle-1) which, averaged over composites, amounted to 3.3 % cycle-1. Yield gains were generally expressed at all test locations and under both terminal-drought and optimal moisture environments. The gains in grain yield were associated with increases of both biomass and harvest index without extending the growth duration except in the earliest composite. Susceptibility to downy mildew remained below 10 % in all selected populations. Thus, the effectiveness of recurrent selection for increasing yield and yield stability of pearl millet is clearly demonstrated

Structure of variation among morphological and physiological traits in three pearl millet composites

The plant breeder's task of improving and stabilizing many plant traits simultaneously is complicated by interrelationships that occur among the traits. Factor analyses were conducted on three phenotypically diverse pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] composites to describe the structure of relationships among yield, morphological, and physiological traits. Approximately 1000 S0 spaced-plants from each composite were evaluated for 20 traits, and random samples of 289 S1 progenies from each composite were evaluated for 18 of these traits. Factors extracted in S0 and S1 populations identified unique sets of traits that were interrelated along axes of (a) biological yield, (b) panicle size, (c) dry matter partitioning and (d) compensation between number and size of seeds. Several plant traits had large loading coefficients on the ‘Biological Yield’ and also, but with opposite signs, on the ‘Dry Matter Partitioning’ factor. The traits having large loading on these two factors differed between space-planted and normal-density stands, showing that environmental conditions contributed to the associations observed among traits. Correlations of S1 with parental S0 factor scores for the ‘Biological Yield’, ‘Panicle Size’ and ‘Seed Paramters’ factors produced significant correlation coefficients, indicating that these trait complexes had a genetic basis. The implications of these results for millet breeding are discussed

Fermentation kinetics of stems of sorghum and millet genotypes

Gas production profiles were obtained from in vitro fermentation of stems of six genotypes of sorghum and millet grown at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India. The ranking of sorghum and millet genotypes by cumulative gas production was consistent throughout the 96-hour fermentation period. However, differences were proportionally greater during the initial 3 and 6 h of fermentation. The multiphase model described by Groot et al. [Groot, J.C.J., Cone, J.W., Williams, B.A., Debersaques, F.M.A., Lantinga, E.A., 1996. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 64:77–89] was used to fit the in vitro fermentation gas observations of these substrates, and fermentation kinetics parameters were calculated using the fitted model. The final estimates of the model parameters (A, B, C), tested by varying the initial estimates obtained with the monophasic model by ±50%, were stable, showing no dependence on the starting values of the model parameters. However, in millet stems, the C parameter has shown a tendency to converge near unity. The stability of the final values of the parameters of the model in this study suggests the potential applicability of the multiphase model when only nine gas observations over a period of 96 h were available. However, the indeterminacy in the parameters of phase 1 for some millet stems indicates the need of an intermediate gas value between 0 and 3 h. In both, sorghum and millet the asymptotic gas of the first phase (A1) was negatively correlated with NDF (r = −0.82, p < 0.05; r = −0.80, p < 0.05, respectively) and lignin (r = −0.86, p < 0.05; r = −0.95, p < 0.01, respectively). The estimated maximum fractional rate of substrate digestion in the second phase (Rm2) showed a strong inverse relationship with lignin (r = −0.93, p < 0.01) in millet but not in sorghum. On the other hand, the time at which the rate of fermentation reached its maximum in phase 1 (tmax1) was negatively correlated with ADF and lignin (r = −0.88, p < 0.05 and r = −0.87, p < 0.05, respectively) in sorghum, whereas in millet only tmax2 (phase 2) was negatively correlated with lignin (r = −0.88, p < 0.05). Estimated differences in the contribution from the different phases to similar cumulative gas at 48 h in stems of different sorghum genotypes indicate the need to complement measurements of total gas production with selected kinetics parameters. The degree of variability between genotypes observed for kinetics parameters related to both, phases 1 and 2 suggest that these parameters have potential for discriminating feed quality differences between crop residues or plant parts. These results point out the difficulty in finding a single feed quality parameter to be used to rank different crop residues of different genotypes. Additional studies are needed to associate these parameters with voluntary intake and in vivo rumen outflow rates with which these phases could be associated

“An Be Jigi”: Collective cooking, whole grains, and technology transfer in Mali

This paper addresses how available resources, food security, technology, and culture are shaping the choices rural Malian women are making to ensure the health, energy, and well-being of their families. This research contributed to evaluating an eight-year research project (An Be Jigi) targeting improved nutrition. The study, performed over four months, used semi-structured interviews of 120 women in six villages in Mali to assess the identified issues with qualitative and quantitative approaches. This paper describes the history of the An Be Jigi project, whole-grain processing techniques, and group cooking for knowledge sharing with rural women for improved nutrition. Interviews revealed substantial adoption of whole-grain processing techniques and women’s appreciation of the nutritional benefits of those techniques. The women engaged in group cooking (cuisines collectives) appreciated the activities and mentioned multiple benefits from using them. Women identified access to mills, and to some extent the social stigma of laziness and poverty associated with whole-grain food, as limiting factors of adoption. This study of women’s practices and perceptions regarding use of whole grain tells a story of changing consumption habits being shaped by culture, technology, knowledge, and available resources. Malian women are agents of change and care in their adoption of new techniques and recipes for the improved nutrition of young children and households

Feasibility of Mass Selection in Pearl Millet

Mass selection is a technique widely used in both population and pedigree breeding of pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. To determine the feasibility of mass selecting for 19 agronomic traits of pearl millet, we (i) estimated trait heritabilities on both a single-plant and a progeny-mean basis and (ii) observed responses of S1 progenies to divergent selection on parental S0 plants. Fourteen hundred and forty S0 spaced plants from each of three pearl millet composites were self-pollinated and evaluated for 19 traits at Patancheru, India on a Udic Rhodostalf soil. Random samples of 289 S1 progenies from each S0 population were evaluated for these same traits in triple-lattice experiments at the same location. Heritabilities estimated on a progeny-mean basis were all significantly (P < 0.01) larger than zero. Heritabilities estimated on a single-plant basis were highest for traits such as panicle length (0.64), plant height (0.58), and seed weight (0.52); they were intermediate straw yield (0.40); and they were lowest for grain yield (0.29), threshing ratio (0.24), and harvest index (0.23), averaged across composites. Divergent selection of the highest and lowest decile of S0 plants identified S1 progenies with significantly (P < 0.05) increased and decreased means, respectively, for panicle and seed characteristics in all composites and for grain yield in two of the composites. Selection for increased efficiency of dry matter partitioning, however, was ineffective. The observed heritability values suggest that mass selection of pearl millet can be effective for all traits examined, with the rate of gain being proportional to the magnitude of those value

Biometrical analysis of alternative plot types for selection in rye

Maximizing the efficiency of selection for yield and baking quality of winter rye (Secale cereale) requires reliable knowledge of the pertinent population parameters. Estimates of variances, heritabilities and genetic correlations from (1) large (~ 5 m²) drilled (LD) plots, (2) micro drilled (MD) plots, and (3) one-row plots of 4 spaced plants (SP) are reported. Thirty-eight single crosses of rye were grown at 2 locations for 2 years in LD, MD and SP plots replicated 2, 4 and 6 times, respectively. Genotypic differences were significant in all plot types for all agronomic and quality traits, although estimates of genetic variances were smaller in LD than MD or SP plots for grain yield, 32-spike weight and grains/spike. Heritabilities on an entry mean basis (0.62 to 0.95) were similar among plot types, but on a single plot basis estimates were lower for SP than for MD or LD plots. Genetic correlations were high between all 3 plot types, with correlations between LD and SP plots being approximately 1.0 for falling number, 1000-grain weight, and flowering date, 0.90 for grain yield, grains/spike, test weight and height, and 0.70 for tiller number. Based on the high heritabilities achieved in small plots and the close agreement between MD- or SP- with LD-plot performance it was concluded that greater use should be made of small plot types when selecting for yield and quality in winter ry

The potential economic impact of guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: Comparing research paradigms

Rural Malians who grow dryland crops depend on sorghum as a primary food staple. Despite steady advances in sorghum research, in this risk-prone environment, achieving major gains in national sorghum yields has posed a challenge. We assess the potential economic impact of the first, Guinea-race sorghum hybrids produced and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralized, farmer-managed seed systems. We compare this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralized, state-managed seed system, which was the approach pursued prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augment the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages in the high-potential sorghum production zone serves as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids is a sound investment, but particularly when combined with locally-based mechanisms for disseminating seed. In part, this finding reflects the fact that despite many years of efforts aimed at liberalizing the seed sector in Mali, the sorghum seed system remains largely farmer-based

Revue et tendances pour la recherche en sélection participative en Afrique de l’Ouest

During the past 7-10 years experiments with participatory breeding in West-Africa have diversified considerably. Initially, most programs were focused on involving farmers in evaluating finished varieties, often already released, but not diffused. Based on these largely positive experiences, breeding programs have started to experiment with participatory approaches in the other stages of a plant breeding program as well. Most of these programs have not reached a stage where genetic gains can be evaluated. In most cases indications are strong that gains from farmers’ mass selection are at least similar to those of breeders. Thus the success of participatory plant breeding programs depends largely on appropriate divisions of tasks and responsibilities between producers and researchers according to everyone’s comparative advantage. In addition to achieving genetic gains in new farmer-preferred varieties, participatory breeding programs tend to address a range of other diverse goals, such as strengthening farmers’ capacities, conserving biodiversity or addressing poverty-related issues directly. The review shows that participatory selection programs have the capacity to address this multitude of goals while creating varietal improvements