A new high yielding black kolukattai grass variety CO 2 (Cenchrus setigerus) suitable for Pasture lands

Cenchrus setigerus is commonly known as black kolukkattai grass and is a herbaceous perennial pasture land grass. TNCS 265 is a selection from Kangayam local developed at Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. TNCS 265 had registered high biomass yield in Station Trials (38.9 t/ha), Multi Location Trials (50.5 t/ha) and in On Farm Trials (46.8 t/ha) which is 12.75, 21.3 and 19.7 per cent yield increase over the check CO 1, respectively. The culture TNCS 265 was promoted to All India Coordinated Research Projects on Forage Crops & Utilization trials during the year 2016 to 2018 and it was evaluated at nine locations in the South zone. Among the cultures evaluated, TNCS 265 registered a mean green fodder yield of 69.0 t/ha than the national check CAZRI-76 (54.87 t/ha) and the qualifying variety IGFRI-96-706 (57.98 t/ha) which showed an improvement of 25.76 and 19.01 per cent yield increase over the check, respectively. It ranked frst in green fodder yield in all three years of evaluation, under AICRP trials in south zone. It has the crude protein content of 8.18 per cent. The fibre fractions such as Acid Detergent Fibre (%) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (%) were comparatively lesser (42.5 & 64.17%) than the national check CAZRI-76 (45.43 & 70.4%) indicating higher digestibility and intake of green fodder of proposed entry. It was also evident from its higher value of in vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (55.47%) than the national check CAZRI-76 (51.93%). Hence, considering the stable performance of TNCS 265 (Cenchrus setigerus), it was proposed and released as black kolukkattai grass CO 2 for pasture land cultivation in the south zone of India during 2019 and notifed as per Gazette Notifcation No. S.O. 99(E). dt. 06.01.2020 for general cultivation.