Pennisetum Syn. Cenchrus is an important C4 genus of the family Poaceae, and comprises of more than 140 species. P. glaucum (L.) R. Br. (commonly known as Bajra or Pearl millet-diploid; 2n=2x=14) is one of the most important and well domesticated species utilized as a food and fodder crop in the arid and semi-arid tropics of the world. However, it is an annual crop, so Bajra needs to be grown every season/year. It also has less biomass than other species and so is not a suitable candidate for "de-ranging" rangelands. The Pennisetum genus contains other important species namely P. purpureum Schumach (commonly known as Napier or Elephant grass-allotetraploid; 2n=4x=28) widely known for its adaptability, high biomass, high tillering habit, fast regrowth capacity and tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, it is cultivated vegetatively because of its very small seed size (1000-seed weight; 0.5-0.6 gm) along with high heterozygosity, poor seed setting and seed viability issues. It too is thu s not a potential candidate for "de-ranging" rangelands. However, we have successfully developed an interspecific fertile cytotype (4x) of P. glaucum x P. purpureum, popularly known as fertile Bajra-Napier (BN) Hybrid by employing modified ploidy coupled with embryo rescue techniques. This fertile hybrid was selfed to produce a large F 2 population which was assessed for various agro-morphological and seed related traits, especially number of seeds per panicle (NSPP) and thousand-seed weight (TSW). All the F 2 lines are fertile and produce viable seeds in a differential pattern with NSPP varying between 13 and 550, and TSW from 0.62 to 4.77 gm. We now have fertile seed producing BN Hybrid in its F 6 generation through recurrent selfing. Having attributes of both P. glaucum (high palatability, grain type millet) and P. purpureum (wider adaptability, perenniality), these BN hybrids are a potential source of plant material for "de-ranging" rangelands to other food production systems as they can survive better under harsh climatic conditions and become an excellent source of food (grain type millet) and feed (green and dry biomass) to the pastoral communities depending on these rangelands.
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