02.01.2015 Views

RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

RA 00110.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Moderator's Overview<br />

Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) in Africa and India<br />

J.M.J. de Wet 1<br />

The genus Pennisetum is distributed throughout the<br />

tropics and subtropics of the world. It includes<br />

about 140 species. One African species, P. glaucum<br />

(L.) R. Br. was domesticated as the cereal pearl<br />

millet, and another African species, P. purpureum<br />

Schumach. became widely distributed as a tropical<br />

forage grass (Brunken et al. 1977). Pennisetum glaucum<br />

is widely distributed south of the Sahara in the<br />

semi-arid Sahel and bush from Senegal to Eritrea in<br />

Ethiopia. It was domesticated along the southern<br />

margins of the Saharan central highlands at the<br />

onset of the present dry phase some 4000-5000 years<br />

ago (Clark 1962, Davies 1968, Munson 1975).<br />

Pearl millet is the most drought tolerant of all<br />

domesticated cereals, and soon after its domestication<br />

it became widely distributed across the semiarid<br />

tropics of Africa and Asia. It is the principal<br />

food crop across sub-Saharan Africa and northwestern<br />

India, but in terms of world production,<br />

pearl millet is not a major cereal. It is planted on<br />

some 15 million ha in Africa, and 10 million ha in<br />

Asia, yielding approximately 10 million t of grain.<br />

Pearl millet is grown where no other cereal will yield<br />

grain, in regions with 200-800 mm of annual rainfall.<br />

It extends into the higher rainfall areas of the semiarid<br />

tropics, but when rainfall is above 800 mm<br />

during the growing season, sorghum [Sorghum bicolor<br />

(L.) Moench] becomes the principal cereal.<br />

Nevertheless, average pearl millet yields compare<br />

favorably with those of sorghum. Average sorghum<br />

yields were 580 kg ha -1 in Africa and 715 kg ha -1 in<br />

India during the 1984 growing season, while for the<br />

same period average pearl millet yields were about<br />

600 kg ha" 1 in both Africa and India.<br />

Pearl millet yields vary extensively between a low<br />

of 71 kg ha -1 in Botswana during the 1984 drought,<br />

and a high of 1818 kg ha -1 in Sierra Leone during the<br />

same year. Inflorescences range in size and shape<br />

from globose, less than 10 cm long, to candleshaped,<br />

over 150 cm long (Clement 1985). Spikelets<br />

are arranged in involucres surrounding a central<br />

axis. Each involucre has 1-9 spikelets. The potential<br />

large number of spikelets per inflorescence allows<br />

for a possible yield in pearl millet at least equal to the<br />

maximum yield in sorghum.<br />

Stapf and Hubbard (1934) recognized 13 cultivated,<br />

15 weedy, and 6 wild annual species in section<br />

Pennicillaria of Pennisetum. Clayton (1972) reduced<br />

these taxa to one cultivated species [P. americanum<br />

(L.) Leeke], two wild species [P. fallax (Fig. & de<br />

Not.) Stapf & Hubbard and P. violaceum (Lam.) L.<br />

Rich.], and two weedy species [P. stenostachyum<br />

(Klotzsch ex A. Br.) Stapf & Hubbard and P. dalzielii<br />

Stapf & Hubbard]. Brunken (1977) recognized the<br />

total variation of cultivated pearl millets as P. americanum<br />

spp. americanum, their closest wild relatives<br />

as spp. monodii (Maire) Brunken, and their<br />

weedy derivatives as spp. stenostachyum (Klotzsch<br />

ex A. Br. & Bouche) Brunken.<br />

The specific name P. americanum (L.) Leeke is<br />

not taxonomically valid. The oldest name for cultivated<br />

pearl millet is Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.,<br />

Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. 1:195. 1810. This species is<br />

based on Panicum glaucum L., Sp. PI. ed. 1:56 1753<br />

(Type: Herman specimen from Ceylon in the British<br />

Museum, which is a typical cultivated pearl millet).<br />

The original diagnosis of Panicum glaucum by Linnaeus<br />

included two species of Setaria as well as the<br />

cultivated pearl millet. In the second edition of his<br />

species plantarum, Linnaeus transferred Panicum<br />

glaucum to Setaria. Modern rules of nomenclature,<br />

however, do not allow such a change, and the name<br />

Panicum glaucum therefore applies to cultivated<br />

Pennisetum. Variation within cultivated pearl millet<br />

is recognized as races typhoides, nigritarum, globosum,<br />

and leonis.<br />

Race typhoides has obovate caryopses, and inflorescences<br />

are cylindrical, usually less than five times<br />

as long as wide. This race is grown across the arid<br />

savanna from Senegal to Egypt and South Africa. It<br />

is the principal pearl millet grown in Asia. Race<br />

nigritarum has obovate, but angular caryopses.<br />

Inflorescences are candle-shaped. It is extensively<br />

grown from northern Nigeria to the Sudan. Race<br />

1. Formerly Cytogeneticist, Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois,<br />

Director, Cereals, ICRISAT, Patancheru, A.P. 502 324, India.<br />

USA. Presently Program<br />

3

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!