Abstract

A high yielding and early maturing pearl millet hybrid, TNBH 0642 was developed from a cross between Cytoplasmic male sterile line ICMA93111 and a pollinator line PT 6029-30 at Department of millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-3 during kharif 2005. It has been tested extensively in Tamil Nadu and in other states viz., Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, under MLT, ART, OFT and All India Co - ordinated programme for the past five years. The hybrid performed well both under rainfed and irrigated situations in Tamil Nadu. This hybrid is of medium in stature (160 -180 cm) and early in duration (matures in 75-80 days). It produces 4-6 productive tillers with candle shaped earhead. The size of the grain is bold and is greyish yellow in colour. The hybrid TNBH0642 is highly resistant to downy mildew under both normal and sick plot conditions. This new hybrid recorded a mean grain yield of 3728 kg / ha under irrigated conditions, which is about 30 and 24 percent increase over the checks X7 and NH 07 respectively. The mean grain yield under rainfed conditions is 2707 kg /ha which is 18 and 19 per cent increase over X7 and NH07 respectively. The iron content in the grain is high (8 mg / 100 g). It has acceptable cooking quality and has consumer preference due to its flavor, taste and keeping quality of the cooked preparations.

Keywords: TNBH 0642, Cumbu hybrid CO 9, short duration, downy mildew resistance.