Collection and evaluation of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum americanum) Germplasm from Ghana

Abstract

An expedition to Ghana was undertaken during August 1981 to collect mainly the early-maturing pearl millet, Pennisetum americanum. The collection team travelled extensively in most of the pearl millet-growing areas of the eastern and northern provinces of Ghana. The mission was planned to coincide with harvesting so that early-maturing landraces could be obtained from farmers’ fields. Seed samples of late-maturing pearl millet were also obtained from local markets. Early-maturing pearl millet is traditionally intercropped with groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) or late-maturing pearl millet. Pearl millet grain is used in several traditional food preparations: thick porridge called tô, a thin, fermented porridge calledkoko, and a deep-fried pancake calledmarsa. Landrace populations grown by the farmers were mixtures of several types. The material collected varied considerably for shapes, sizes and colors of spikes and grains. Of the 284 samples collected, 227 were grown in a uniform nursery at Patancheru: they flowered in 39–140 days, grew 120–315 cm tall, spikes were short (6–53 cm) and conical, grains were large, globular and gray with starchy endosperm. The samples belong to race globosum and serve as a good source of genes for earliness and large-grain size.