Agronomic and physiological responses of pearl millet ecotype (Pennisetum<br>glaucum (L.) R. Br.) to saline irrigation

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify morphological and physiological traits for salinity tolerance in Tunisian autochthonous ZZ pearl millet ecotype (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br) under local conditions. ZZ ecotype was cultivated under different levels of salinity and growth parameters, water relations and mineral content were measured. Results showed that ZZ pearl millet ecotype was unable to store the large amounts of salt in the leaves, while maintaining high leaf water content and without a grave consequent on panicle yield. This ecotype is fitted for a selective sodium sequestration in the vacuole.

Pearl millet populations characterized by Fusarium prevalence, morphological traits, phenolic content, and antioxidant potential

“…Maximum free radial scavenging potential was shown by the pearl millet cultivated in Rejiche (84.78%) whereas the minimum scavenging potential was found in Kelibia (22.71%). These results were in the same range of those obtained with other Tunisian pearl millet, 41 but they were higher than those obtained with Indian landraces. 42…”

“…This high content of polyphenols of pearl millet has been elucidated previously. 40,41 These results were by far higher than those obtained for other pearl millet cultivars grown in India 42,43 but lower than that obtained from South African pearl millet, 44 and in the same range as those cultivated in Nigeria. 45 The total flavonoid components (TFC) of different pearl millets differed significantly (P < 0.05).…”

“…Phenolic acid content ranged from 658.3 μg g −1 DM (Kelibia) to 1668.6 μg g −1 DM (Zaafrana).Trans-cinnamic acid was the major phenolic compound in all the extracts (44-71%) followed by protocatechic acid (19-28%) and hydroxybenzoic acid (0-26%) in all samples. Similarly, Radhouane et al 41 reported that trans-cinnamic, protocatechuic, and hydroxybenzoic acids were the main phenolic compounds of pearl millet extracts. The highest content of trans-cinnamic acid was found in the Zaafrana population, followed by Rejiche, located in the coastal center (Table 4).…”

“…Taken together, these results show the strong effect of the environmental factor on the chemical composition of the pearl millet grains. 41 Fusarium species spectrum in Tunisian pearl millet samples This is the first study to document the distribution and prevalence of Fusarium species in the regions that are most commonly cultivated with pearl millet (P. glaucum L.) in Tunisia. Three different Fusarium species were detected in Tunisian pearl millet populations based on morphologic and molecular data.…”

Forage Growth and Productivity of Pearl Millet as Affected by Soil Mulching, Planting Date under Salinity Conditions

“…Yakubu et al T (2010) reported that, plant height, shoot and root dry weights of five pearl millet varieties were significantly decreased with increasing soil salinization. Also, Leila Radhouane (2013) used three levels of saline water irrigation, T 1 (1g NaCl/l as control), T 2 (4g NaCl/l) and T 3 (7g NaCl/l) for pearl millet plants, noticed that plant height of T 3 was 18% significantly lower than T 1 and 13% than T 2 . The same findings were noticed by Abd El-Rahman et al (2005), Hussein et al (2010) and Siti Aishah et al (2011) on sorghum.…”