Forage yield and digestibility of African pearl millet landraces in diallel with missing cross

Shortage of nutritious forage is limiting animal production in the semiarid regions of Africa, This study was conducted to evaluate the magnitude of heterosis for forage production and dry matter digestibility in African landraces of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br,]. Five landrace populations, 9 of 10 interpopulation crosses, and two hybrids were evaluated in a randomized complete-block design with five replications for dry matter forage yield and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) in 1989 and 1990 in Tifton, GA, Entries in only two replications were evaluated for digestibility. The missing cross was estimated, and both the traditional and Gardner-Eberhart analyses were performed, Highly significant difference between crosses (9.94 t ha(-1)) and parents (8.50 t ha(-1)), or average heterosis, as well as general combining ability was observed in the combined analyses for dry weight forage yield. No other partitions of entries for either trait were significant. Year x entries was significant for forage yield but not for IVDMD. All midparent and high-parent heterosis values were positive for forage yield but were nonsignificant. High-parent heterosis values ranged from 3.3 ('Iniari' x 'Mansori') to 22.9% (Iniari x 'P(3)Kolo') for dry matter forage yield. No heterosis was observed for IVDMD. Heterosis for forage yield did not affect IVDMD. These results suggest that use of pearl millet hybrids can contribute to increased forage production in semiarid Africa.