Characterization of Sudanese pearl millet germplasm for agro-morphological traits and grain nutritional values

Abstract

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is an important staple cereal cultivated in the arid and semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa, regions severely affected by malnutrition. Knowledge about the extent of genetic variability and patterns of agro-morphological variation in local germplasm from a target region is an important prerequisite for efficient crop improvement. To assess the potential of Sudanese pearl millet landraces as sources of desirable traits for pearl millet improvement including biofortification, a total of 225 accessions were evaluated in Sudan at three locations for agro-morphological traits and at one location for grain mineral nutrient contents (Fe, Zn, Ca, P, K, Mg, Mn, S, Na, Cu and b-carotene). Genetic variation was highly significant, but relatively limited for some agro-morphological traits (62-78 d to flowering, 119-188 cm plant height and 16-34 cm panicle length), pointing to the potential usefulness of a targeted diversification for these traits. Self-pollinated grain micronutrient contents showed a wide variation: 19.7 -86.4 mg/kg for Fe and 13.5 -82.4 mg/kg for Zn. Significant and positive correlations among most of the nutritional traits were observed; therefore, enhancement of the concentrations of some nutrients will lead to the improvement of other related nutrients. No significant associations were observed between the nutritional and agro-morphological traits, indicating good prospects for simultaneous improvement of both trait categories. No clear patterns of geographic differentiation for specific traits were detected for the Sudanese pearl millet. Nutrient-rich accessions were identified and those with acceptable agro-morphological traits are encouraging materials for future pearl millet biofortification programmes in Sudan.

Grain iron density variability among new farmer-preferred experimental millet varieties from Niger

“…The high heritability value for grain Fe content indicates it was less influenced by environment. High heritability estimates for grain Fe in pearl millet were previously reported by Bashir et al (2014) and Govindaraj et al (2011). Means not sharing a common letter in a column differ significantly at 0.05% level of probability…”

“…The extent of variation in the Fe, Zn and Al concentrations observed is presented in . These ranges were substantially narrower than those recently reported for pearl millet (Hama et al, 2012;Rai et al, 2013;Bashir et al, 2014;Pucher et al, 2014), perhaps because the tested materials did not include any Iniari landrace-derivatives. Based on their mean performances across the four environments, the varieties ICRI-Tabi and ICMV-IS 13131 (reselected ICRI-Tabi) were identified as stable and more promising for grain Fe density.…”

Progress update: Crop development of biofortified staple food crops under HarvestPlus

“…The WCA region has the largest area under millets in Africa, of which more than 90% is pearl millet. Studies of pearl millet landraces and other locally adapted materials from Niger and Sudan showed promising ranges of mineral density [75,76,77]. The most promising iron pearl millet OPVs are currently being tested on-farm at more than 30 locations across five countries in WCA.…”

Review on Impact of Plant Breeding in Crop Improvement, Ethiopia

“…In cereals, the reduction of plant height has been the main target for improving lodging resistance. A very good example is the shorter length of the lower internodes; smaller inner Culm diameter and higher thickness of mechanical tissue in japonica rice improved stem strength has reduced lodging risk (Bashir et al, 2014).…”

“…It presupposes knowledge of the botanical characteristics of the species, of plant diseases and their epidemiology, of insect pests that feed upon the different plant species, of physiological factors related to adaptation of plants, and of biochemical characteristics affecting utilization and nutritive value (Poehlman, 2013). Knowledge about the extent of genetic variability and patterns of agromorphological variation in local germplasm from a target region is an important prerequisite for efficient crop improvement (Bashir et al, 2014). Global food security demands the development of new technologies to increase and secure cereal production on finite arable land without increasing water and fertilizer use.…”