Dwarf pearl millet continues to press its claims as a viable alternative summer crop in the northern grains region, with emerging research lines significantly outyielding sorghum in trials at Biloela, in Central Queensland, last summer.

The results are expected to increase grower interest in the crop when a Grains Research and Development Corporation supported Queensland Department of Primary Industries project leads to identification of two F1 hybrids for commercial release.

QDPI research scientist Col Douglas sowed 85 hybrid millets ­ all the early progeny of dwarf lines from the United States ­ alongside two open pollinated millets and two early sorghums as an "autumn plant" in February.

"Growing conditions were good, with rain after planting, and the best of the hybrid millets went 4.8 tonnes to the hectare. The best open pollinated millet yielded 3.8 t/ha and the sorghums 3.8t/ha and 1.4 t/ha," Mr Douglas said.

"The sorghums did face midge and ergot problems, and the lowest yielding sorghum had a low midge resistance rating.

"The pearl millets matured in 80 days, almost four weeks before the sorghum at 105 days, which prompts me to try an even later autumn planting in 2004 ­ depending on the season and sowing conditions, of course.

"It would be good to know just how late we can plant millet if there¹s late rain, and still harvest a successful crop."

Pearl millet is a staple food crop in the semi-arid tropics of Africa and India, where subsistence farmers grow locally adapted lines of it on annual rainfalls as low as 200mm and on some of the world¹s poorest soils.

Renewed interest in pearl millet as a grain crop for northern Australia followed the success of US plant breeders in adapting African and Indian germplasm to produce dwarf, grain, pearl millet varieties suited to mechanical harvesting.

"We collaborated with the Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit, using a pearl millet model developed at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India and incorporating data from physiology experiments on new dwarf, grain hybrids at Biloela," Mr Douglas said.

"We now have a working pearl millet model that can simulate dwarf hybrids grown under Australian environments.

"Eventually farmers and advisers will be able to use the model to compare pearl millet and sorghum in terms of planting times and locations, with different moisture profiles.


"In the Dawson-Callide, for instance, early simulations from the model indicate pearl millet might be a better choice for spring and late autumn planting, with sorghum the preference through summer."

Mr Douglas said 45 new hybrids, incorporating five new female lines form the US ­ the last to come from the GRDC/QDPI project, would be planted at Bilo in February, for inclusion in a final evaluation of all the available millet germplasm.