Improving the quality of pearl millet residues for livestock
The purpose of this project is to improve smallholder livestock production in arid and semi arid production systems in India through the use of pearl millet hybrids with better inherent stover quality. The project area is India with emphasis on the driers parts such as Gujarat and Rajasthan. From this project, an improved variety of millet has been transferred to Ethiopia.
The primary outputs of this project are new and /or modified hybrid pearl millet parent lines that produce stover with a higher nutritive value for ruminants. The potential benefits of these new parent lines will be made available to farmers by the public and private hybrid industry. The project targets low and medium income farmers growing pearl millet in mixed crop livestock production systems in north-western India. It also stands to benefit members of the seed industry (growers, seed agencies and merchants) and larger scale livestock/milk producers in pearl millet production regions. Objectives
- To produce hybrid parent lines with enhanced stover quality suitable for use in commercial hybrid seed production.
- To use modern breeding techniques to determine the effects of individual stover quality Quantitative Trait Locus (QTLs) to improve on fodder quality of pearl millet stover for higher animal productivity.
- To promote the use of improved parental lines to public and private seed companies.
Contact persons: Dr.C.Tom Hash, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India. c.t.hash@cgiar.org Dr. Barry Shapiro, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT Patancheru PO, Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India. B.shapiro@cgiar.org
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