SARGODHA BAJRA-2020:A HIGH GREEN FODDER YIELDING MILLETVARIETY WITH BETTER NUTRITIONAL VALUE AND GRAIN YIELD

Abstract

The demand of high fodder yielding varieties of Pearl millet with better nutritional quality and grain yield is increasing by the livestock farmers. The cultivation of high yielding fodder crops is essential need of the age for livestock industry development, especially in developing countries as Pakistan. Development of high fodder yielding varieties with better nutritional value is a serious need of the time. Sargodha Bajra-2020 variety having high green fodder yield, better nutritional value and grain yield is an open random mating among the linesPCBK-948, N-5, HI-GROUP and POP-6. Above mentioned variety has been proved more successful than the previous SGD-Bajra-2011 variety (check). It produced 3.47% higher green fodder yield with average value of 74.5t/ha as compared to check variety SGD-Bajra-2011with average yield of 72t/ha during kharif 2016& 1.08% higher green fodder yield with an average value of 33.69t/ha as compared to check variety SGD-Bajra-2011with average yield of 33.33t/ha during kharif 2017 in National Uniform Fodder Yield Trials. It has palatability 72.66% as compared to 65.33% in the previous SGD-Bajra-2011 variety (check) Moreover; its green fodder contains 18.55% dry matter, 9.33 %crude protein, 3.67% crude fat. The new variety showed that it was moderately resistant to downy mildew. Agronomic studies revealed that it is fit in a better way with the existing agronomic practices.