Performance of Selected Pearl Millet Genotypes for Grain and Fodder Yields in West Africa.

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is the most important cereal crop grown in the hot and dry Sahel region of West Africa. It is grown for both grain for human consumption and fodder for animal feed. With the objective of developing dual-purpose cultivars improved for both grain and fodder yields, 100 accessions were assembled and evaluated at seven locations in four countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal) in simple lattice design with two replications during 2015. Data on agronomic performance, grain and biomass yields were collected for each genotype in two replications. Most of the traits had near normal distribution with high genetic variability. Days to flowering and plant height positively correlated with grain and biomass yield, indicating that late flowering tall genotypes are better for both grain and biomass yields improvement. Across locations combined analysis of data revealed that genotypes such as PE02831, Sanioba 03, PE01491, Misari-1, PE00967, Group4, and Toroniou C1 had superior mean grain and biomass yield performance that ranged from 6048 to 4793 and 10562 to 9271 kg ha^-1, respectively. This preliminary result indicates that dual-purpose pearl millet cultivar development is feasible to enhance the productivity of crop-livestock mixed farming system in the region. The experiment will be repeated at respective locations to incoporate year effect in the analysis.