Variability among germplasm collections for high biomass traits in Cenchrus sp.

Abstract

Sixty germplasm accessions of Cenchrus ciliaris and Cenchrus setigerus were collected from different habitats in and around Coimbatore and Erode districts and planted in field trials. Based on initial morphological evaluation, four accessions from Cenchrus setigerus and three accessions from Cenchrus ciliaris showed better biomass. Among the collected germplasm accessions, one among the Cenchrus setigerus accessions showed prostrate behaviour which would be of great use in the greening of degraded lands where with few plants entire area can be covered and utilized for grazing. With its high soil binding capacity due to its clustered root system, it will reduce soil erosion also. The germplasm accessions from Sulur and Kangeyam recorded high single plant green fodder yield of 545g and 500 g respectively in single cut compared to the control CO1 (262.5g). Further evaluation is in progress. Variations among the accessions collected from different habitats will be useful to evolve better genotypes than CO-1.