ICAR pearl millet group meeting in ICRISAT

Hyderabad, May 12 (UNI) The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will hold its 42nd annual group meeting of the All India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project at the prestigious International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) here from May 14 to 16.

About 150 delegates from public and private sector will assemble at ICRISAT campus at Patancheru to review the research and development results achieved during 2006-07 and develop work plans for 2007-08, an ICRISAT release said.

Scientific presentations from experts on pearl millet research in areas related to fodder yield and quality, alternative uses of pearl millet grains as poultry and animal food and in bakery and various types of health food products and application of 'molecular marker' technology to enhance precision, and pace of pearl millet improvement would also be discussed at the meeting.

The joint efforts of public and private institutions had made significant contributions towards increasing pearl millet productivity by about 65 per cent during the past 20 years, it said.

The enormous hybrid cultivar diversity had also reduced risk of breakout of downy mildew, the most dreaded disease of this crop in the country, he added.

UNI