Pearl millet as a postrainy cool season crop: case studies from Gujarat and Maharashtra, India

Case studies of winter season (rabi) pearl milletcultivation conducted in 2007–09 in Junagadh, Gujarat,and Jalgaon, Maharashtra states of India showedincreasing interest of farmers in this cropping systembecause of the importance of the crop in sustainingfarmers’ household requirements of nutritious food andfodder. A major constraint faced by farmers in theseareas is the changing growing conditions such as lowtemperature of 10–15°C, which reduces plant growth,delays maturity, and leads to a reduced biomass yield.The existence of genetic variation for this trait caneffectively address this issue. The farmers’ practice ofadjusting sowing time largely overcomes the problem ofpoor seed setting at low temperature. However, geneticimprovement of this trait is needed to allow flexiblesowing time. Employing other cultural managementpractices, such as crop rotation juxtaposed with theadherence to a cropping calendar of pearl millet, yieldseconomic benefits to farmers. Results showed that winterseason pearl millet cultivation resulted in a benefit-costratio of 3.62 in Junagadh and 3.12 in Jalgaon. Theseattributes of pearl millet combined with high water-useefficiency under water limiting environments make it apotential replacement crop in the global scenario ofclimate change with bright prospect for developinghybrids suited to winter season environments.