Evaluation of the Agronomic Traits of 80 Accessions of Proso Millet ( Panicum miliaceum L.) under Mediterranean Pedoclimatic Conditions

Alessandro Calamai, Alberto Masoni, Lorenzo Marini, Matteo Dell’acqua, Paola Ganugi, Sameh Boukail, Stefano Benedettelli and Enrico Palchetti
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Alessandro Calamai: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Alberto Masoni: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Lorenzo Marini: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Matteo Dell’acqua: Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Paola Ganugi: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Sameh Boukail: Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Stefano Benedettelli: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Enrico Palchetti: DAGRI, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The continuous increase in the world population and the associated food demands in the wake of climate change are pushing for the development and cultivation of climate-resilient crops that are able to efficiently use natural resources. Proso millet ( Panicum miliaceum L.) might be a promising candidate crop thanks to its heat stress resistance and its limited water demand. To date, one of the most important strategies to increase grain yield and to improve other agronomic important traits is through an efficient breeding program based on a wide genetic variability of parental germplasm. In this study, we evaluated the agronomical traits of a world collection of 80 P. miliaceum accessions. The entire collection was evaluated over a 2 year field experiment under Mediterranean pedoclimatic conditions, which exhibited a wide range of variability for plant height (25–111 cm), grain yield (842–3125 kg ha −1 ), total dry biomass (2767–10,627 kg ha −1 ), harvest index (HI; 0.25–0.35), Growing Degree Days (GDDs; 581–899), and days to maturity (80–111 d). A non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance (Np-MANOVA) analysis indicated that GDDs to flowering, grain yield, total dry biomass, days to maturity, plant height, and seed yield per plant were useful parameters to differentiate the germplasm accessions. High heritability (>0.60) was observed in both years for plant height, leaf number, basal tiller, seed yield per plant, 100-seed weight, GDDs to flowering, and days to maturity. Grain yield, total dry biomass, and HI reported moderate heritability (0.30–0.60). The findings reported in the present study may provide valuable information that could support researchers in breeding programs to develop high grain-yielding accessions.

Keywords: proso millet; Panicum miliaceum L.; climate-resilient crops; breeding; germplasm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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