Pearl millet stands as an important staple food and feed for arid and semi-arid regions of India and South Africa. It is also a quick supplier of important micronutrients like Fe and Zn via grain to combat micronutrient deficiencies among people in developing countries. India has notably spearheaded advancements in pearl millet production and productivity through the All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project. There were 21 hybrids evaluated over arid and semi-arid ecologies of the western and southern regions of India. AMMI and GGE biplot models were adopted to recommend a specific hybrid for the particular locality. A joint analysis of variation indicated a significant genotype–environment interaction for most of the agronomical and grain micronutrient parameters. Pearson’s correlation values dissected the significant and positive correlation among agronomic traits and the negative correlation with grain micronutrient traits. GGE biplot analysis recommended the SHT 106 as a dual-purpose hybrid and SHT 115 as a biofortified hybrid for the grain’s Fe and Zn content. SHT 110 and SHT 108 were selected as stable and high grain yield-producing hybrids across all environments and specifically for E1, E2, and E4 as per the Which-Won-Where and What biplot. SHT 109 and SHT 103 hybrids were stable and high dry fodder yield-producing hybrids across all environments. In this study, the Multi-Trait Stability Index (MTSI) was employed to select the most stable and high-performing hybrids for all traits. It selected SHT 120, SHT 106, and SHT 104 for stability and great performance across all environments. These findings underscored the significance of tailored hybrid recommendations and the potential of pearl millet in addressing both food security and malnutrition challenges in various agro-ecological regions.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is an important commercial crop and highly prone to many biotic and abiotic stress. During March 2021, severe leaf blight symptoms were observed in Priyanka variety ...

Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone (Poaceae), is an important millet crop cultivated mainly in arid and semiarid regions and is a staple food grain for millions of people. During 2021 July surveys in the pearl millet fields in Mysore (12°30'55" N; 76°56'54" E), Karnataka, India, plants showed spathe blight and leaf spot disease with an overall incidence ranging from 5 - 8% in the 15 hectares surveyed. Infected leaves appeared brown, and lesions extended to the sheath. Some spathes were also found infected with similar symptoms. Diseased leaves and spathes were collected (n = 5 each) for pathogen identification. Samples were cut into small pieces (0.5 cm2), sterilized with sodium hypochlorite (2%, v/v), and blotted dried. The associated fungal pathogen was isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium amended with Streptomycin (40 mg/L) and incubated at 28 ºC for 1 week. Colonies were grey, fluffy, cottony with an irregular margin, undulate and dark brown in the back of the plate. Conidiophores were pale brown, erect, slightly curved, septate, unbranched, verruculose and measured 27.1 - 94 µm in length × 2.3 - 4.5 µm in width (n = 20). Conidiogenous cells were brown, subcylindrical, irregularly shaped, and conidia were straight, mainly elliptical, dark brown smooth, with two to three septa, with measurements of 11.1 - 26.4 µm by 5.7 - 14.3 µm (n = 50). Based on morphological characters, the pathogen was identified as Curvularia sp. Two representative isolates (UOMPM1 & UOMPM2) were molecularly identified. The total genomic DNA was extracted with a CTAB method, and ITS, GAPDH and tef-1α loci were amplified using primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al., 1990), GPD1/GPD2 (Berbee et al., 1999) and EF1983F/EF-2218R (Schoch et al., 2009) respectively. ITS sequence had 100% similarity (706/706bp) with reference sequence C. spicifera (MH863648; HF934915 & HF934916); tef-1α sequence had 100% (933/933bp) identity with C. spicifera (KM062878, KJ939505), and the GAPDH sequence was 99.8% identical to that of Curvularia sp. (MG979055), and C. spicifera (MH809681). Combined dataset of concatenated sequence (ITS-GAPDH-tef-1α) was used in a phylogenetic analysis and revealed that the isolates were in a common clade with the isolate of Curvularia spicifera (CBS 274.52) thus, confirming the identity of the isolated pathogen as C. spicifera. The sequences obtained in the present study were deposited in the GenBank (ITS: OQ253406, OQ253407; LSU: OQ253429, OQ253430; GAPDH: OQ263372, OQ263373 & TEF: OQ263374, OQ263375). Pathogenicity test was carried out by inoculating (foliar /whole plant spray) 60 healthy pearl millet plants (45-days old), grown in field plot with spore suspension (105 conidia/ml). Control plants (n=20) were treated with sterile water. The experiments were conducted in triplicates and repeated twice. Development of disease symptoms was recorded on 41 plants, and all control plants remained healthy. The identity was confirmed after re-isolation as C. spicifera based on cultural and molecular sequence analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. spicifera causing a leaf spot and spathe blight disease of pearl millet in India. This disease seriously affects grain production, and effective disease management strategies need to be investigated.

The experiment was carried out with thirty pearl millet inbred lines at Research Farm of ICAR-AICRP on Pearl Millet, Project Coordinating Unit, Mandor-Jodhpur during kharif 2020 in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. Morphological and molecular diversity was assessed in 30 pearl millet inbred lines by Mahalanobis D2 analysis and Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) molecular marker, respectively. Total five clusters were formed from D2 analysis and seven clusters were generated from SSR markers data analysis. The character viz. panicle girth, number of effective tillers per plant and 1000 seed weight contributed maximum to morphological diversity. The clustering pattern based on SSR markers data revealed that genotypes at molecular level had high diversity as compared to that seen at phenotypic level. There was significant differences among the clustering pattern of D2 and SSR molecular marker analysis. The reason may be environmental influence on phenotypic level. This information can be used as selection criteria to have hybridization between diverse parents to exploit heterosis in pearl millet breeding program.