bajra

Bajra (Pennisetum glaucum) or Pearl millet is an important nutria-cereal or coarse grain cereals suitable for rainfed and dryland agriculture. It is 70-90 days duration crop best suitable for sandy, black and loamy soils with good drainage. It is mainly grown in Kharif or rainy season in the States of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. It is also grown in summer in a few districts of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Bajra is consumed both as grain and used for fodder purpose. Bajra is staple diet in many States of India. The “Bajra ke Roti” is an important part of Indian cuisine in Rajasthan, Haryana and other parts of North India.

Excellence in Bajra breeding is an integral part of R&D of Nuziveedu Seeds Limited (NSL). NSL is a strong millets breeding program with a core focus on Bajra on genetic improvement of Bajra hybrids for agronomic performance, grain and fodder quality. Following are the breeding objectives of Bajra breeding program of NSL.

1. To develop climate resilient nutria-cereal Bajra plant varieties (hybrids) with plant characters aligned to higher yields (Ear length, compactness and grain size), agronomic performance and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

2. To develop Bajra Plant varieties with multiple cuts and stay green nature suitable for higher fodder yield, nutrition and digestibility for animals.

The hybrids developed by R&D are tested in different agro-climatic regions by the Product Evaluation and Development team and the best suited hybrids for each agro-climatic are shortlisted. Further the shortlisted hybrids are tested in farmer management conditions through Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) and Special Demonstrations (SDs). During FLDs and SDs the agronomic practices for growing the new Hybrid seed variety are also standardized keeping in view the resource requirements of especially smallholder and marginal farmers.

For the past two decades, NSL has commercially released several Bajra hybrid seed varieties which were widely accepted by farmers. NSL’s  Bajra hybrid seeds varieties Pratap NBH (1134), Balwan-NBH 4903 are both notified by Central Variety release committee of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare, Government of India. Our important commercialized hybrid seeds include NBH 5863, NBH 5900 and NBH 5922.