Identification of Drought Tolerant Pearl Millet Cultivars in Senegal.

Pearl millet is a staple crop in West Africa. In Senegal, it is used as a food source, forage, and building material. However millet production faces challenges due to environmental stress in this region. Among abiotic factors, drought has the most yield limiting effect in this area.  The main goal of this project is to identify millet cultivars that are not only high yielding but also tolerant to water stress. To do so, a field experiment was conducted from March to June 2015 in the research center of the Senegal`s Institute of Agriculture Research (ISRA). Four millet cultivars were planted in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The experiment was done under irrigation but after flowering the irrigation was stopped in half of the plots. During the field experiment , stand parameters such as the timing of 50% seedling emergence, 50% heading, 50% flowering, 50% maturity were recorded.  Relative water content (RWC), Specific leaf area (SLA), stomata conductance, and seed weight was also measured.  Additionally, total biomass, grain yield, harvest index and drought susceptibility index (DSI) were calculated. Finally, a seed germination test was conducted for each cultivar. We found that the four cultivars were divided in two groups: cultivars that have higher yield in the water stress environments and  a short life cycle, and cultivars that have higher yield in the non-stress environment and longer life cycle. Utimately,grain yield, total biomass and seed weight were lower in the stress environment.

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See more from this Division: C03 Crop Ecology, Management & Quality
See more from this Session: Crop Ecology, Management & Quality: II

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