Abstract

As pearl millet is grown principally for food grain in drier areas where rainfall is relatively low and erratic in distribution, breeding for drought tolerance is the integral part in pearl millet breeding programme. In the present study, 63 pearl millet genotypes were evaluated for seedling traits conferring drought tolerance and diverse genotypes were identified. The highest genetic divergence was observed between CO7 and ICMV221 for recorded characters and crossing between these two genotypes would exhibit maximum heterosis for concerned characters. The R/S ratio was positively correlated with fresh root weight (FRW) and dry root weight (DRW), which suggested that simultaneous improvement of root characters is possible in breeding for drought tolerance. Emergence percentage (E%), fresh shoot length (FSL), fresh root length (FRL), fresh shoot weight (FSW), fresh root weight (FRW), dry shoot weight (DSW), dry root weight (DRW) and root shoot (R/S) ratio recorded high heritability estimates along with high genetic advance indicating selection can be possible for improvement of these characters. The pearl millet genotypes namely, ICMV221, PT5541, PT5005, PT5554, PT3764, PT5188(X1), PT4440 and PT5557 were identified as drought tolerant genotypes and they can be used for further analysis.

Keywords: D2 analysis, correlation, variability parameters, drought tolerance, pearl millet