Department of Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
*Present address: FAO, 99–100 Passo Fundo, Brazil.
Online published on 25 January, 2012.
Tetraploidy was induced in pearl millet, Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.) S. & H., var. T-55. The quadrivalent frequency in the induced tetraploid was lower than that in the tetraploid of BIL-4, an inbred derived from the open-pollinated variety T-55.
Besides univalents, bivalents, trivalents and quadrivalents, a low frequency of cells showed hexavalents. In some cells, trivalents were observed without the corresponding number of univalents. This supports previous studies which suggest that five is the basic number for the genus.
The tetraploids were inferior to standard diploid varieties in green fodder yield.
