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Pearl Millet Crop Management and Seed Production Manual

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/4060/
 
Title Pearl Millet Crop Management and Seed Production Manual
 
Creator Khairwal, I S
Rai, K N
Diwakar, B
Sharma, Y K
Rajpurohit, B S
Nirwan, B
Bhattacharjee, R
 
Subject Millets
 
Description Pearl millet is a major warm season coarse grain cereal grown on 26 million ha in some of the
harshest semi-arid tropical environments of Asia and Africa. India has the largest area (9–10 million
ha) under this crop, ranking it third along with sorghum. It is cultivated in the most sandy, infertile
soils and droughty environments (eg, arid Rajasthan) where no other cereal crop can survive. Even
under these conditions, pearl millet yields 300–400 kg ha-1 of grain. Pearl millet hybrids maturing in
80–85 days, when cultivated as an irrigated summer season crop in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and
Uttar Pradesh states of India, have been reported to give as high as 4000–5000 kg ha-1 of grain yield.
Pearl millet grains have high protein content, balanced amino acid profile, and high levels of iron,
zinc, and insoluble dietary fiber. Eggs produced from layers fed on a diet of pearl millet have much
lower levels of LDL (the bad cholesterol) than those fed on a maize-based diet. These adaptive and
nutritional features combined with high yield potential make pearl millet an important cereal crop
that can effectively address the emerging challenges of global warming, water shortages, land
degradation and food-related health issues.
Farmers cultivating pearl millet continue to be plagued by uncertain and low economic returns
when production falls and also when production increases (due to low prices). This serves as a
deterrent for farmers to invest in improved crop management, although the latter can play an
effective dual role in increasing productivity and enhancing production stability. The demand for
pearl millet grain is likely to increase with its increasing use as poultry and animal feed. This
demand can further increase if pearl millet enters the commercial convenience foods channel,
thereby increasing grain price. In turn, this will lead to greater investment in crop management and
consequently productivity enhancement.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and National
Agricultural Research System (NARS) in India have played a pioneering role in developing a diverse
range of improved breeding lines and parental lines of potential hybrids. These lines have been used
extensively by breeding programs in both the public and private sectors to develop and
commercialize a large number of hybrids (more than 70 were under cultivation in 2006). These
hybrids are cultivated on 50% of the total pearl millet area, leading to 65% increase in grain yield
during the past 20 years.
Since its inception in 1974, the All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project
(AICPMIP) has developed production-protection technologies specific to agro-ecoregions of
different states. Their application holds the promise of further enhancing the productivity of
improved cultivars to commercial farming scales, and hence increasing the profitability of their
cultivation, similar to the one witnessed in the seed production sector.
This lucid and comprehensive manual on pearl millet crop management and seed production by
AICPMIP and ICRISAT scientists delves into pearl millet biology, its distribution and climatic
requirements; and various aspects of crop management and seed production. Though written
primarily in the context of agriculture in India, its contents have a wider application for students,
teaching and training personnel, extension workers and farmers interested in development, crop
management and seed production and marketing of pearl millet.
 
Publisher International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
 
Date 2007
 
Type Monograph
NonPeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/4060/1/158_07_Pearl_Millet_Manual.pdf
Khairwal, I S and Rai, K N and Diwakar, B and Sharma, Y K and Rajpurohit, B S and Nirwan, B and Bhattacharjee, R (2007) Pearl Millet Crop Management and Seed Production Manual. Manual. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics , Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.