A high green fodder yielding Cumbu Napier hybrid grass CO 6 suited for the states of Central and North Western Zones

Abstract

A high yielding Cumbu Napier hybrid clone TNCN 1280 was evolved from an inter specific cross between fodder Cumbu CO 7 and Napier grass FD 459 at the Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and identified for release as CO 6 for the states of Central and North Western Zone of India during 2019. The clone TNCN 1280 had registered a mean green fodder yield of 385.3t/ha than the check CO (BN) 5 (343 t/ha) in station trials conducted from 2013 to 2015 and the per cent increase over the check was 12.3. Under Multi Location Trial (2015 to 2018), TNCN 1280 recorded the green fodder yield of 386.4 t/ha with a yield advantage of 6.03 per over the check CO (BN) 5. Simultaneously the clone was evaluated under AICRP on FC&U trials from 2016-2018 and the clone TNCN 1280 recorded 13.6, 11.4 and 8.2 per cent higher green fodder yield than the national checks CO (BN) 5, CO 3 and NB 21, respectively in North Western Zone. Similarly in Central Zone also, TNCN 1280 registered a superior green fodder yield than the national checks namely CO (BN) 5 (18.8%), CO 3 (12.0%) and NB 21 (43.3%). For dry matter yield, TNCN 1280 out yielded the national checks CO (BN) 5 (11.7%), CO 3 (11.5%) and NB 21 (14.9%) in North Western Zone. The clone TNCN 1280 exhibited its superiority for crude protein yield against two national checks CO (BN) 5 (20.6%) and NB 21 (27.2%) in North Western Zone, and in Central Zone, it recorded 14.7, 9.3 and 19.4 per cent superiority over the national checks CO (BN) 5, CO 3 and NB 21, respectively. It is resistant to leaf blight and moderately resistant to leaf spot disease. It ranked first in North Western Zone and Central Zone for green fodder yield. Based on the overall performance of TNCN 1280, it was identified for release as Cumbu Napier hybrid grass CO 6 for the states of North Western Zone and Central Zone of India.