Varietal identification and fingerprinting of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) varieties and hybrid using morphological descriptors and SSR markers

Abstract

Pearl millet is one of the sixth most and economically significant small seeded millet crop in the world. It contributes to 50% of world millet production. Pearl millet has its origin in Sahel of West Africa, where it was domesticated about 3000 years BP (Clotault et al., 2010). It belongs to the family Poaceae with 2n=2x=14 chromosomes and has a genome size of 1.76 Giga bases (Varshney et al., 2017). It is the staple food of Africa and North-west India, feeding about 90 million poor people across the world. India is the largest producer of pearl millet in the world that was grown in 6.93 million ha owing to average production of 8.61 million tonnes and productivity of 1243 kg/ha during 2018-2019 (AICRP, 2020. Pearl millet is considered to be a high energy cereal, rich in protein (8-19%), low starch content, high fiber content, rich in vitamins A and B, high calcium, iron, zinc with minor amounts of nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, and manganese (Pattanashetti et al.,2016). In addition, it can be used as animal feed, brewery, and as roofing Varietal identification and fingerprinting of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) varieties and hybrid using morphological descriptors and SSR markers