Abstract

A high yielding and early maturing prosomillet culture TNAU 145 was developed at the Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and released as TNAU 145 at national level. It is a derivative of the cross involving PV 1454 x TNAU 96. It yields on an average 1819 kg/ha of grain and 4600 kg/ha of straw under rainfed condition. The profusely tillering and non-lodging culture is highly suitable for drylands of India. The panicle is large and branched. The grains are bold and golden yellow in colour. Being a short duration variety of 70 days, it is the best choice for contingency planting. This variety has registered 31.52 and 24.93 per cent increased grain yield over the standard varieties K1 and GPUP 21 (National check) respectively, in a total of 157 trials which include station trials, multilocation trials, on farm trials and All India Coordinated trials.

Keywords: Grain yield, tillers, panicle, trials, evaluation