Abstract:
Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is one of the most important staple cereals in the
semiarid tropics, adapted to very harsh rain-fed conditions. The present study was conducted in
South of Chad in two Province where twelve pearl millet accessions were collected and assessed
in Bébédjia (9°55'N and 15°8'E) during the rainy season of 2017 to evaluate the genetic
diversity. Farmers traditionally used the spike shape, accession’s origin and animal name to
classify name of pearl millet accession. Qualitative evaluation showed that pearl millet landraces
had dominance of cylindrical-shape and threshing with the touch spike, hexagonal shape and
grey colored seed with the endosperm mostly corneous. All traits assessed except total tiller per
plant revealed high significant difference (p<0.001) between twelve landraces. Heritability was
high for all traits with high genetic advance of percentage of mean was observed for all traits
except total tillers, plant height, days to flowering and thousand grain weight suggesting that
these traits are governed by additive gene action and possibility of improving these traits through
selection. Positive correlation of grain weight with number of days to flowering indicates that
indirect selection of simply inherited agronomic traits can assist in effective selection for grain
yield. |
