Collection and preliminary evaluation of Pearl Millet germplasm from Uttar Pradesh

A germplasm collection expedition to Uttar Pradesh, India organised by ICRISAT in collaboration with the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi and Chandrasekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, during October, 1979, collected 456 accessions of traditional cultivars of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke) and six samples of wild Pennisetum , mainly from farmer's fields. When the accessions were evaluated at Patancheru, wide variations were observed in days to flower, plant height, as well as the shape and size of the spike and grain. To facilitate constitution of germ-plasm pools, all the accessions were classified into seven cultivar groups considering the shape, length and thickness of the spike, and based on them a key was developed for identifying them.