Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is one of the world's hardiest warm‐season cereal crop cultivated for food and animal feed in the semi‐arid tropics of Asia and Africa. This crop faces terminal drought during rainy and flowering‐stage heat stress during summer seasons. Blast is emerging as a serious threat affecting its production and productivity in India. Using wild P. violaceum (Lam) Rich. and pearl millet cultivars, prebreeding populations were developed following backcross method. These populations were evaluated in target ecologies in India at three locations during the 2018 summer season for flowering‐stage heat stress and at two locations during the 2018 rainy season for terminal drought stress. A total 18 introgression lines (ILs) from Population (Pop) 3 exhibited improved seed set under high heat stress vs. the cultivated parent, whereas no IL was better than the cultivated parent in Pop 4. Under rainfed conditions at Hisar and Bawal, India, 19 ILs from Pop 3 and 16 ILs from Pop 4 showed significantly higher dry fodder yield than the cultivated parents. Further, screening of ILs for five diverse pathotype isolates—Pg 45, Pg 138, Pg 186, Pg 204, and Pg 232—of blast resulted in the identification of resistant ILs. Use of these promising ILs in breeding programs will assist in developing new varieties and hybrids with improved tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The study indicated the genetic differences between the parents involved in crossing and also highlighted the importance of precise phenotyping of wild species for target trait prior to use in prebreeding work.

中文翻译：

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野生狼尾草种类在改善珍珠小米生物和非生物胁迫耐受性中的用途

珍珠小米[ Pennisetum glaucum（L.）R. Br。]是亚洲和非洲半干旱热带地区种植的用于粮食和动物饲料的世界上最坚硬的暖季谷物作物之一。在夏季的雨季和开花期热胁迫下，该作物面临终极干旱。高炉正在成为严重的威胁，影响其在印度的生产和生产力。使用野生紫罗兰（Lam）富有。和珍珠粟品种，采用回交法培育出了预育种群。在印度的目标生态系统中，针对这些种群在2018年夏季的三个地点进行开花期热胁迫评估，并在2018年雨季的两个地点进行了终末干旱胁迫评估。在高温胁迫下，种群（Pop）3的总共18个基因渗入系（ILs）与栽培父本相比表现出更好的结实，而在Pop 4中，没有IL优于栽培母本。在印度Hisar和Bawal的雨养条件下，来自Pop 3的19个IL和来自Pop 4的16个IL显示出比栽培亲本明显更高的干饲料产量。此外，针对五种不同病原分离株（Pg 45，Pg 138，Pg 186，Pg 204和Pg 232）的IL筛选可以鉴定出抗性IL。这些有前途的IL在育种计划中的使用将有助于开发对生物和非生物胁迫具有更高耐受性的新品种和杂种。这项研究指出了参与杂交的亲本之间的遗传差异，并强调了在进行预育工作之前，对野生物种进行精确表型鉴定以作为目标性状的重要性。