Abstract
AbstractPearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.) is an important forage crop for livestock in semiarid regions, but the use of Brazilian genotypes for silage production in northeastern Brazil has not been adequately described. The objective was to assess the divergence in agronomic traits of five Brazilian pearl millet cultivars, for silage production, at two Brazilian semiarid locations. The treatments were five pearl millet cultivars, ‘IPA Bulk1BF’, ‘BRS 1501’, ‘CMS‐03’, ‘CMS‐01’ and ‘ADR 300’, which were arranged in a randomized complete block design and were replicated five times. Agronomic divergence was assessed using canonical variate analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering. Dry matter yield ranged from 7.6 to 14.1 Mg ha−1 and digestible dry matter yield ranged from 3.7 to 7.2 Mg ha−1. The plant height ranged from 144 to 184 cm and harvest index ranged from 21.6 to 36.4%. Average panicle proportion was of 30.6%, while 13.3 and 55.9% was observed for leaf and stem proportion, respectively. Three distinct agronomic groups were identified: Group I (‘IPA Bulk1BF’ and ‘ADR 300’), Group II (‘CMS‐03’ and ‘CMS‐01’) and Group III (‘BRS 1501’). Group II had the greatest agronomic value for performance variables while Group III had the least.
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