Pearl millet in Indian agriculture
1987
Harinarayana, G.
Pearl millet is the fourth most important cereal food crop in India, usually grown in soils with depleted fertility which receive 150-750 mm of rainfall per year. Pearl millet was grown on 9.5% of the food-grain area and yielded 4.8% of Indian food-grain production during 1965-84. Traditional farming practices include the use of locally-adapted varieties with poor productivity, little application of manures and chemical2048 fertilizers, minimum tillage, and limited intercropping operations. Pearl millet is used to make unleavened bread, porridge, or cooked like rice. Major factors that restrict the production potential of pearl millet in India are low hybrid coverage, slow varietal spread, poor plant establishment, no fertilization, weeds, and diseases. Some suggested remedial measures to increase production include: diversification of male-sterile lines, improvement of restorers, breeding heterogeneous and heterozygous single- and multicross hybrids for combating the problems of low yield and diseases, identification of sugary, yellow-, and white-grained pearl millets, and selection for drought resistance, efficient water use, efficient nitrogen utilization, salt and mineral tolerance, and disease resistance. The production potential of pearl millet has not been commercially exploited, and has so far been restricted to the use of improved seeds. Quality seeds, small amounts of fertilizer, good cultural management, water harvesting, price support, and assured procurement could increase produc
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