ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

conducted during the 2006 rainy season, ICMV 06111 gave 9.1 t ha -1 of dry forage yield at 80-d harvest, which was
90% of the forage yield of ICMA 00999 × IP 17315 and comparable to that of Proagro 1 (8.9 t ha -1 ). ICMV 06111
flowered in 87 days compared to 69 days for ICMA 00999 × IP 17315 and 54 days for Proagro 1.
KN Rai and HD Upadhyaya
Milestone 5A.6.1.2: Improved populations and experimental hybrids with high forage yield potential developed
(KNR/RB/ HDU/MB, 2009)
Open-pollinated varieties hybrids with high forage yield: Nine OPVs developed for forage purposes have now
been evaluated for two years (rainy season of 2005 and 2006) at Patancheru. Based on the mean performance across
the two years, ICMV 05555 was found to be the highest-yielding, giving 14.8 t ha -1 of dry forage yield at 80-d
harvest, which was 14% more than that of the control (ICMA 00999 × IP 17315). Another variety ICMV 05777
gave 13.1 t ha -1 of the dry forage yield, which was comparable to that of the control (13.0 t ha -1 ). ICMV 05555
flowered in 70 days and ICMV 05777 in 74 days compared to 69 days for the control. There were five additional
varieties that had 10.3−11.9 t ha -1 of the dry forage yield. Two of these flowered in 60 and 65 days, one in 78 days,
while the other two flowered in 94 days. The yield potential of the latter two is likely to be higher if harvested at 90-
95d harvest.
Twenty-seven topcross hybrids produced by crossing three forage type male-sterile lines (ICMA 89111, ICMA
00999 and ICMA 03222) with each of the nine forage populations were evaluated during the 2005 and 2006 rainy
seasons for forage yield at 50 and 80-day harvest. Based on the mean performance over the two seasons, seven
hybrids (3 on ICMA 89111 and 4 on ICMA 00999) produced 12.5-13.8 t ha -1 of dry forage yield (11.8 t ha -1 for
control hybrid, ICMA 00999 × IP 17315) at the 80-d harvest. The highest yield was obtained for hybrid ICMA
00999 × ICMV 05222 (13.8 t ha -1 ). All the selected hybrids flowered in 65−75 days (72 days for the check hybrid).
KN Rai, HD Upadhyaya and Michael Blümmel
Milestone 5A.6.1.3: Diverse seed parents with high forage yield potential developed and characterized
(KNR/RB/MB, 2012)
Hybrid parents progenies: We evaluated 24 advanced generation progenies (F 6 /F 9 ), of which 18 were selected
based on the visual assessment of forage yield. Of these, 17 flowered in 51−60 days (checks ICMB 00999 flowered
in 47 days and ICMB 98777 in 58 days). Sixteen potential forage type seed-parental lines with 50−60 days of
flowering were intercrossed during the postrainy season. The resulting 16 F 1 ’s were evaluated during the 2006 rainy
season for biomass, of which 10 were selected based on the visual assessment of forage yield, with their flowering
ranging between 50 and 55 days. We also evaluated 155 S 2 /S 6 population progenies (earlier selected for high
biomass yield) during the 2006 rainy season, of which 60 were visually selected for high biomass yield, producing
120 progenies. Most of the progenies flowered in 50−60 days (check ICMP 451 flowered in 50 days).
KN Rai and Michael Blümmel
Output target 5A.7: Information on breeding efficiency and genetics of three diverse cytoplasmic-nuclear
male-sterility (CMS) systems in pearl millet documented (2009)
Activity 5A.7.1: Documentation of research results related to CMS genetics and breeding efficiency in pearl
millet
Milestone 5A.7.1.1: Comparative studies on efficiency of three diverse CMS systems completed (KNR, 2008)
The field trial data from two years and 2−3 locations have been analyzed, showing that the hybrids based on the A 4
cytoplasm give about 5% less grain yield than those based on the A 1 cytoplasm, although there is large cytoplasm ×
genotype interaction. These results will be written up for formal publication in 2007/2008.
KN Rai
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