Lecture No 24

Pearl millet

It is known as bajra, sajja, cat tail millet, candle millet, spiked millet, brush millet,
dark millet etc.

SN: Pennisetum americanum

F: Gramineae

Pearl millet is one of the major coarse grain crops and is considered to be a
poor man’s food. It is the most drought tolerant crop among cereals and millets. It
provides staple food for the poor in a short period in the relatively dry tracts of the
country.

Uses:

 The grain of bajra is superior in nutritive value to sorghum grain but inferior
in feeding value.
 Grains are cooked and eaten like rice or chapattis are prepared out of flour
like maize or sorghum flour.
 It is also used as feed for poultry and green fodder for cattle.

Origin: Primary center of origin is Africa from where it spread to India and other
countries

Distribution: It is a crop grown mostly in tropical climate. It is widely grown in

Africa and Asia. The important Pearl millet growing countries are India, China
Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt, Russia Etc.

In India it is mainly grown in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP and

Haryana. In Telangana bajra is mainly grown in Rangareddy, Mahbubnagar,
Nalgonda etc

Climate: Pearl millet is a warm weather crop. It has a high degree of a resistance
for drought conditions. Most of the varieties developed in India are photo
insensitive. Hence, it can be grown during Kharif, Rabi, and summer seasons. The
best temperature for the growth and development of bajra is between 30 -35 o C.
The crop requires a low annual rainfall ranging between 400-500 mm. During the
vegetative growth of the crop moist weather is useful. The rainfall at flowering
time is harmful as it washes off the pollen and consequently there is poor seed
setting. The crop does best under conditions of light showers followed by bright
sun shine. Usually Pearl millet is grown in those areas where it is not possible to
grow sorghum because of high temperature and low rainfall. The crop may tolerate
drought but cannot withstand high rainfall of 900 mm or above.

Soils: It can be grown on a wide variety of a soils but being sensitive to water
logging it does best on well drained sandy loams. It is sensitive to acidic soils. It is
grown successfully on black cotton soils, alluvial soils and red soils of India.

Land Preparation: Pearl millet requires a fine seed bed free from clods as the
seeds are of very small size. A deep ploughing with plough followed by two or
three harrowing’s is considered to be optimum. While leveling the field care
should be taken to ensure that rain water does not stagnate but drain out easily..

Seasons: Kharif – June –July

Rabi- Sept- Oct

Summer- First fortnight of January

If water is not a problem it can be raised round the year but avoid late planting
beyond July 15th. Delayed sowing leads to drastic reduction in yield due to more
incidence of diseases like downy mildew, ergot, high rate of mortality and poor
grain setting.

Method of Sowing: It is done by broadcasting, drilling, dibbling and transplanting.

Of all these drilling is most popular. Thinning and gap filling should be done at 10-
15 DAS. Depth sowing in is 2 -3 cm

Transplanting: If timely sowing of Pearl millet is not done due to several un

available reasons such as late onset of monsoon, heavy and continues rains during
the optimum sowing time or late harvesting of preceding summer crop. In case
sowing is delayed transplanting has been found suitable to give higher yields as
compared to direct sowing. Three to four weeks old seedlings are planted @ 2
seedlings /hill. Under South Indian conditions summer bajra is usually grown by
transplanting.
Advantages of transplanting:

 It produces more tillers and ears owing to better growth

 Optimum plant population is ensured.
 Gives higher yields than direct seeding.
 Downy mildew infected seedlings are ejected at the time of transplanting
itself.

Seed Rate:

Drilling -4.0-5.0 kg/ha

Dibbling - 2.5 -3.0 kg/ha

Seed Treatment: Seeds should be treated with thiram or captan @ 3 g/kg of seeds.

Spacing: 45 x 15 cm

Management of Overaged Seedlings: In case of seedlings having less than 20

days age the tillers arise from the basal nodes just below the ground and most of
the tillers put forth ease at the same time. When aged seedlings are transplanted
tillers arise from the inter nodes above the ground. This makes the plant
susceptible to lodging.

To overcome this the ear of the main culm is nipped followed by top dressing
of nitrogenous fertilizers and copious irrigation which induces profuse tillering
from the basal nodes.

Nutrient Management: FYM @ 5 t /ha should be applied and mixed well into the
soil about 20 days before sowing.

Rainfed crop: 50 to 60 -30 -20 kg/ N, P2O5, K2O/ha

Irrigated Crop: 100 to 120 – 40- 20 kg/ N, P2O5, K2O/ha

Half of N & full doses of P and K should be applied at the time of sowing. The
remaining half is applied in two splits. Once at the time of thinning (2-3 weeks
after sowing) and the rest at ear formation stage.
Water Management: Total water requirement of bajra is 400- 500 mm. As it is a
rainfed crop there is hardly any need for irrigation. Irrigate the crop if there are no
rains. Generally, two irrigations are enough during the crop growth period. If
moisture is limiting irrigation must be given at the time of ear head emergence
because it is the most critical stage for moisture stress. Bajra does not tolerate
water logging. So, do not allow rain water to stand in the field for more than few
hours. Proper arrangement for draining the excess water must be made.

Weed Management: The damage due to weeds is severe during 3-5 weeks after
sowing. Intercultivation by hand hoe or wheel hoe should be done at 3-5 weeks
after sowing. However sometimes due to unavailability of labour or soil being too
wet to permit manual weeding, timely weeding becomes difficult. Under such
conditions. the only effective way to control weeds is the use of herbicides.

Pre-emergence application of Atrazine or Propazine controls most of the

weeds.

Harvesting and Threshing: Harvest the crop when grains become hard and
contain about 20% moisture. Harvesting is done by cutting the entire plant or
removing the ear heads first and cutting down the plants later on. The ear heads
after harvesting should be dried in the sun. The grains are separated either by
beating the ear heads by sticks or by trampling under bullocks. The threshed grain
should be cleaned and dried in sun to bring the moisture content down to 12% for
safe storage.

Yield Attributes:

1. Total number of tillers/unit area

2.No of productive tillers/unit area

3.No of filled grains / ear head

4.Test weight.

Yield:

Rainfed: Grain- 12-15 Q/ha

Dry stover-70-75 Q/ha

Irrigated: Grain – 30-35 Q/ha

Dry stover – 100 Q/ha

Composition of grain:

Carbo hydrates: 67 %
Protein: 11.6%
Fat: 5.0%
Moisture: 12.4%
Minerals: 2.7%

Cropping systems:

Sequential cropping:

Pear millet –Groundnut

Pear millet - Cowpea

Pear millet -Pigeon pea

Pear millet- Barley

Pear millet- Wheat

Pear millet -Toria

Intercropping System:

Pearl millet + Ground Nut

Pearl millet + Cow pea

Pearl millet +Pigeon pea

Pearl millet + Castor

Pearl millet + Sesame

Pearl millet +Mung bean

Pearl millet + Urd bean.