Apomixis is a naturally occurring mode of reproduction that results in embryo formation without the involvement of meiosis or fertilization of the egg. Seed-derived progeny of an apomictic plant are genetically identical to the maternal parent. We are studying a form of apomixis called apospory that occurs in the genus Pennisetum, a taxon in the grass family. A cultivated member of this genus, ...

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a warm-season, C4 annual cereal primarily grown in Africa and India for food and fodder. It is also grown in the United States, mainly as a forage crop on a limited area. It is the sixth most important cereal crop in the world. More than 90 million people around the world rely on it as a food grain. It is known for its drought and heat tolerance ...

It is increasingly evident that new environmentally sustainable agricultural practices will be necessary to support an estimated human population of 9 billion by 2050. Considering the predicted climate change-associated events such as flooding, drought, increased temperatures, and increased soil salinity, it is critical to broaden our study and use of cereals and small grains. Millets offer sig...

PEARL MILLET Pearl millet is one of the two major crops grown to feed people living in the semi-arid, low input dryland agriculture regions of Africa and southeast Asia. People in northern Nambia are almost entirely dependent on pearl millet for food. Four countries in the Sahel of Africa, with a total population of 38 million, depend on pearl millet to provide over 1,000 calories per person pe...

Millet is unusually drought resistant and consequently there is a progressive increase in the use of these grains as a human food staple, especially in large areas of India and sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study was to determine the absorption of iron and zinc from pearl millet biofortified with 2 micronutrients that are typically deficient in nonfortified, plant-based diets globally...

Pearl millet is used mainly as a temporary forage crop in the southern United States. A new pearl millet hybrid has potential as a major grain crop in the United States. The effects of nematodes, irrigation, a nematicide, and nitrogen rates on a new pearl millet grain hybrid, HGM-100, and nematode population changes were determined in a 2-year study. Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita r...

Complete uniparental chromosome elimination occurs in several interspecific hybrids of plants. We studied the mechanisms underlying selective elimination of the paternal chromosomes during the development of wheat (Triticum aestivum) x pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) hybrid embryos. All pearl millet chromosomes were eliminated in a random sequence between 6 and 23 d after pollination. Parenta...

628 Abstract: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.), ranking fifth and sixth in global cereal hectarage, respectively, are the most important coarse-grain cereals in the semi-arid tropical regions of Asia and Africa. Pearl millet displays better adaptation to and is grown in relatively more marginal environments than sorghum. Under subsistence f...

West Africa (WA) is among the most food insecure regions. Rapid human population growth and stagnating crop yields greatly contribute to this fact. Poor soil fertility, especially low plant available phosphorus (P) is constraining food production in the region. P-fertilizer use in WA is among the lowest in the world due to inaccessibility and high prices, often unaffordable to resource-poor sub...

An experiment was conducted to compare a commercial corn-soybean meal diet with a pearl millet diet containing less soybean meal (-27%), alone or in combination with exogenous enzymes, on growth performance, jejunal villus development, ileal CP, and AA digestibility, and cecal microbial populations in broilers. One hundred sixty 1-d-old male Ross 508 broilers (5/cage) were randomly allocated to...