Impact of Different Harvesting Intervals on Growth, Forage Yield and Quality of Three Pearl Millet (Pennisetum americanum L.) Cultivars

Abstract

Very recently, harvesting interval (HI) has been observed to have a huge impact on growth, yield and quality of crops such as pearl millet. Keeping in view the importance of HI a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different HI (45, 60 and 75 days after sowing) on growth, forage yield and quality of pearl millet cultivars (786, AF-POP and MB-87) at the Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The growth, yield and quality parameters differed significantly among millet cultivars. Results revealed that HI has a substantial effect on both forge yield and quality of pearl millet as the delay in harvest significantly enhanced the forage yield and yield parameters while the quality parameters i.e. crude protein and ash contents were decreased with delay in the harvest of crop. However, maximum values for both green forage and dry matter yields, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves per plant and leaf area per plant were noted when crop was harvested 75 days after sowing. The cultivar 786 produced higher yield of better quality than other cultivars when harvested 75 days after sowing due to greater plant height, stem diameter, no of leaves and leaf area per plant. It has also higher crude protein (8.15%), ash contents (9.87%) and lower crude fibre contents. It can be concluded from the data that higher yields of pearl millet can be obtained under Faisalabad conditions by using the cultivar 786 and harvesting is suggested 75 days after sowing.