Journal article
Genetic gains in Pearl Millet in India: Insights into historic breeding strategies and future perspective
Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol.12, Art. 645038
2021
Abstract
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum R. Br.) is an important staple and nutritious food crop in the semi-arid and arid ecologies of South Asia (SA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In view of climate change, depleting water resources and widespread malnutrition, there is a need to accelerate the rate of genetic gains in pearl millet productivity. This review discusses past strategies and future approaches to accelerate genetic gains to meet future demand. Pearl millet breeding in India has historically evolved very comprehensively from open-pollinated varieties development to hybrid breeding. Availability of stable cytoplasmic male sterility system with adequate restorers and strategic use of genetic resources from India and SSA laid the strong foundation of hybrid breeding. Genetic and cytoplasmic diversification of hybrid parental lines, periodic replacement of hybrids, and breeding disease-resistant and stress-tolerant cultivars have been areas of very high priority. As a result, an annual yield increase of 4% has been realized in the last three decades. There is considerable scope to further accelerate the efforts on hybrid breeding for drought-prone areas in SA and SSA. Heterotic grouping of hybrid parental lines is essential to sustain long-term genetic gains. Time is now ripe for mainstreaming of the nutritional traits improvement in pearl millet breeding programs. New opportunities are emerging to improve the efficiency and precision of breeding. Development and application of high-throughput genomic tools, speed breeding and precision phenotyping protocols need to be intensified to exploit a huge wealth of native genetic variation available in pearl millet to accelerate the genetic gains.
Details
- Title
- Genetic gains in Pearl Millet in India: Insights into historic breeding strategies and future perspective
- Authors/Creators
- O.P. Yadav (Author/Creator) - Central Arid Zone Research InstituteS.K. Gupta (Author/Creator) - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsM. Govindaraj (Author/Creator) - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsR. Sharma (Author/Creator) - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsR.K. Varshney (Author/Creator) - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsR. Srivastava (Author/Creator) - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsR.S. Mahala (Author/Creator) - SeedWorks International Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, India.
- Publication Details
- Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol.12, Art. 645038
- Publisher
- Frontiers
- Identifiers
- 991005544823907891
- Copyright
- © 2021 The Authors.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Crop and Food Innovation; State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre; Food Futures Institute
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
67 File views/ downloads
102 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.4 Crop Science
- 3.4.424 Crop Yield Optimization
- Web Of Science research areas
- Plant Sciences
- ESI research areas
- Plant & Animal Science