Growth, Yield and Quality Performance of Pearl Millet (<i>Pennisetum americanum</i> L.)

Abstract

Livestock industry of Pakistan is expanding day by day. To meet its growing demand high fodder yielding and nutritious varieties of fodder crops are needed. Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum L.) is an excellent choice for this purpose. In order to explore the possibility of the better yield potential varieties of pearl millet performed in a good manner under agro ecological conditions of Faisalabad during the year 2012. A field experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Randomized complete block design was used with three replications; the net plot size was 1.8 m × 6 m. The experiment was comprised of nine millet varieties named Cholistani Bajra, Barani Bajra, MB-87, Sargodha Bajra 2011, 18-BY, Super Bajra-1, PARC-MS-2, 86-M-52 and FB-822. All other agronomic practices were kept normal and constant. Data on yield and yield components were recorded by standard procedure. Significant results were recorded among the varieties for forage growth and yield. The variety 86-M-52 produced maximum forage and dry matter yield because of more number of leaves (14), leaf area (3540.1 cm 2 ) followed by Sargodha Bajra-2011. All cultivars have statistically significant differences in respect of quality characteristics. However, non-significant differences were observed among cultivars regarding ash contents. The cultivar Sargodha Bajra-2011 has the highest crude protein (10.347%) and the cultivar FB-822 has the minimum crude protein percentage (6.733%). While PARC-MS-2 has the highest crude fiber percentage (34.667%) but variety MB-87 has the minimum crude fiber (24.333%). Variety 86-M-52 proved better for getting higher forage yield followed by Sargodha Bajra-2011 than all other varieties. Sargodha Bajra-2011 is the best cultivar that performed well in respect of quality parameters under irrigated conditions of Faisalabad. * Corresponding author. M. Hassan et al. 2216

Divergence in agronomic traits and performance of pearl millet cultivars in Brazilian semiarid region

“…Plant height was decisive to establish a difference for DMY between the cultivars 'CMS-03' and 'ADR 300'. This finding is consistent with results of Guimarães J unior et al (2009) and Hassan et al (2014). However, the same trend was not observed for others cultivars, probably due to differences between another agronomic factor, such as lodging resistance (Akromah et al 2008;Silungwe et al 2010).…”

“…() and Hassan et al . (). However, the same trend was not observed for others cultivars, probably due to differences between another agronomic factor, such as lodging resistance (Akromah et al .…”

Determination of major antinutritional factors in Pennisetum glaucum L. and their relationship with protein and content yield

“…Eleven genotypes possessed significantly higher protein content than the general mean of 9.89%. A large variation in protein content (6 -21%) was reported by Hassan et al (2014) in pearl millet.…”

Weed Control Practices and Varying Sowing Dates Effects on Seed Production of Pearl Millet (<i>Pennisetum americanum</i> L.) under Semi-Arid Environment

“…It ranked third most important fodder crop among live stock feeds [2]. Millet is C 4 crop and high temperature receptive crop, which requires optimum moisture for higher productivity [3].…”

“…One of the most important limiting factors for livestock business is shortage of fodder crop. Moreover, poor quality production of forage and seasonal shortage of forage during extreme winter as well in summers and 2.5% decrease in area under forage per decade are key constraints for forage and livestock production [3]. Low production of forages is primarily due to unavailability of proper land for forage production, improper sowing time and techniques, unavailability of high quality forage seeds, poor irrigation and nutrition management, weed infestation and poor plant protection etc.…”