Population Diallel of Elite Medium‐ and Long‐Duration Pearl Millet Composites: I. Populations and Their F₁ Crosses

Abstract

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] varieties grown in semiarid Africa and Asia have low grain yields. Information on heterosis and combining ability of diverse open‐pollinated cultivars, breeding populations, and genepools is needed for efficient choice of breeding methods and parental materials to use in developing productive base populations for this crop. Data for grain and biomass yield, growth rate, time to flowering, plant height, panicle length, and productive tillers were collected from an 11‐parent variety cross diallel of diverse pearl millet populations evaluated in five field environments in peninsular India. Data were summarized using the Gardner–Eberhart Analysis II. When genotype × environment interactions were significant, ranks of parental general combining abilities (GCA) were used to identify particular environments and parents contributing most to these interactions. Parental population effects were significant for all characters, as were differences in GCA. Populations NWC C2, AfPop 88, and LHGP consistently had the poorest ranks for general combining ability for grain yield across test environments. Populations ICMV 91059, SenPop, ICMP 91751, and ICMP 92951 constitute a genetically diverse subset of the parents that consistently had the best ranks for grain yield GCA across test environments. With ICMV 155 (crosses of which performed poorly in only one of five test environments), this latter group is a good source of more broad‐based breeding populations for dual‐purpose pearl millet improvement targeting peninsular India.

Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling High Iron and Zinc Content in Self and Open Pollinated Grains of Pearl Millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

“…None-the-less, operational heritability estimates from these joint analyses were substantially less than those of the corresponding single-environment analyses of this RIL. These findings were largely in agreement with previous pearl millet studies conducted at ICRISAT by Ali et al (2001) and Kannan et al (2014) which found that G × E interactions were significant for grain yield, flowering time, plant height and panicle length. Assessment of the environmental stability of micronutrients is important in a crop improvement program aimed at enhancing the nutritional quality of food crop plants (Bidinger et al, 2007).…”

Exploiting Heterosis in Pearl Millet for Population Breeding in Arid Environments

“…In contrast to the present study, estimates of better‐parent heterosis for GY were positive in all crosses and ranged from 25 to 80%. Ali et al (2001) evaluated 11 medium to late maturity pearl millet populations and their diallel crosses in five environments in India. Both population and heterosis effects for GY were significant and heterosis explained 25% of the entry sum of squares.…”

Heterotic pools in African and Asian origin populations of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.]

“…Pucher et al 24 and Sattler et al 25 have reported higher magnitude of SCA variance for grain yield in West African pearl millet populations and their hybrids. On the contrary, Ouendeba et al 23 reported higher magnitude of GCA variance than SCA variance for grain yield among African pearl millet landraces. In our study, the populations under investigation had diverse genetic backgrounds and were geographically distant (Asian/African regions), while Ouendeba et al 23 studied only five improved populations belonging to a specific African geographical region.…”