English abstract
The present investigation was undertaken for two consecutive summer seasons of 2004
and 2005 to study the performance of 30 elite forage pearl millet genotypes bred for salinity tolerance under ICBA-ICRISAT Joint Project, in Randomized Complete Block Design, at a site having saline irrigation water ranging from 7.50 to 8.25 dS/m during the period of crop growth, in the farmer's field located at Rumais in Batinah region. The objectives included comparison of these genotypes for important agronomic and physiological characters and select outstanding forage pearl millet genotypes having high forage productivity and balanced nutrient composition. The characters related to agronomy and forage yield were recorded in the field and traits of physiology and nutritive composition, and ionic contents were measured in the laboratory and statistically analyzed. The results indicated that pearl millet entries were more diverse and significantly different in respect of agronomic attributes studied. Among the top ten high yielding genotypes, in 2004, IP 19586 recorded significantly highest green matter yield of 52.67 t/ha followed by IP 3616 (49.00 t/ha), ICMV 155 Brist (48.00 t/ha), IP 6109 (47.00 t/ha), ICMV 155 Original (46.33 t/ha), IP 6112 (45.00 t/ha), Sudan Pop III (44.33 t/ha), IP 22269 (43.33 t/ha), IP 19612 (43.00 t/ha) and IP 6106 (42.33 tha) while in 2005, IP 6112 recorded significantly highest green matter yield to the extent of 84.50 t/ha, followed by Sudan Pop III (76.00 Tha), IP 6104 (65.50 tha), IP 3616 (65.00 t/ha), IP 19586 (62.00 t/ha), Guerinian-4 (53.50 tha), Wraj Pop (52.00 t/ha), Dauro Genepool (51.75), IP 13150 (51.25 t/ha) and IP 22269 (51.00 t/ha). The set of genotypes evaluated in 2004 showed dry matter yield ranging from 3.34 t/ha (GB 8735) to 9.48 t/ha (IP 19586) while that in 2005 showed the range from 2.69 Uha (IP 5253) to 12.78 t/ha (IP 6112).
Green matter yielding ability of the top ten selected pearl millet genotypes from two summer seasons viz. 2004 and 2005 has indicated that five genotypes namely IP 6112 (64.75 t/ha), Sudan Pop III (60.17 t/ha), IP 19586 (57.34 t/ha), IP 3616 (57.00 t/ha) and IP 22269 (47.17 t/ha) were consistent in their performance under Oman conditions in hot summer. These genotypes have been observed to have moderate to high physiological efficiency, ionic concentrations and nutritive composition and for evaluation in the farmer's fields and recommendation for general cultivation in the Batinah-farmers fields suffering from rise in irrigation water salinity.
