National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore-560 030, India.
Online published on 5 January, 2012.
Straw from 21 flnger millet (Eleusine coracana) cultivars grown at 3 locations having wide range in agroclimatic conditions were examined for chemt-cal composition and in-vitro digestibility. There were no differences in OM, nitrogen and NDF contents of the straws of different cultivars grown under a location but significant difference (P<0.05) were observed among locations. The nitrogen content (0.6%) was lowest and NDF content (67.8%) and its digestibility (37-1 %) were highest in high rainfall location. The IVOMD did not vary among cultivars or location tested. The study suggests the existence of variability in finger millet cultivars with respect to their characteristics due to the genetic and environmental factors. Hence, while selecting for quality straw within the culti-vars the interactions between genetic and environment factors need to be consid-ered.
