VINAY KUMAR*, KRISHAN KUMAR, VIPAN KUMAR, ASHOK KUMAR DEHINWAL, R. K. ARYA, BALWAN SINGH MANDAL AND R. K. BEHL
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India 1Regional Research Station, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Bawal, Rewari (Haryana), India Director Extension Education, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
MMDU, Mullana, Ambala (Haryana), India
*(e-mail: vinaykumar@gmail.com)
(Received: 25 January 2024: Accepted: 22 March 2024)
SUMMARY
Pearl millet is C4 plant grown in arid and semi-arid tropics. It is drought, low soil fertility, high salinity, low pH, or high temperature. It has gluten-free protein which has therapeutic effect for those vulnerable to gluten allergy and celiac disease. It has a high fiber content, which slows down digestion and releases the glucose into the blood at a slower rate and also boosts immunity therefore, named as “nutri-cereal”. Malnutrition is a serious health issue in India, and India to be free from this. A large amount of variability found in the pear millet accessions and commercial hybrids has been utilized in the bio-fortification breeding. The positive association between Ca and Mg, will lead to the improvement of other related nutrients content as an associated trait. G×E interactions play an important role in the expression of grain yield and its attributing traits because these are complex traits and governed by many genes. Therefore, a comprehensive knowledge on correlation of yield and biochemical trait with morphological traits helps in indirect selection of these traits via highly heritable traits will be beneficial. The estimate the extent of genetic variability for yield and attributing traits, their correlation which will be helpful in finding the association among yield and nutritional traits in pearl millet genotypes. Recent, important and relevant literature pertaining to these aspects has been reviewed in this article.
Key words: Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum, rainfed, nutri-cereal, variability, inheritance