A new high-tonnage forage pearl millet being marketed in the United States is a spinoff of University of Nebraska grain pearl millet research.

IANR Plant Breeders John Rajewski and David Andrews developed this new forage pearl millet after spotting promising plants amid strains from west Africa being evaluated in winter in an NU greenhouse.

In the field, these plants grew tall and leafy and never headed, Andrews said, all good news for forage production.

"A non-heading hybrid puts its energy into leaves to make forage and leaves stay green right to the ground," he explained.

Pearl millet originated in the tropics, where days are short. Some types are day-length sensitive and don't readily make seed heads in much of North America because summer days are too long.

Rajewski and Andrews crossed the forage types with grain pearl millet lines they were developing and got vigorous forage hybrids that didn't head.

These IANR-developed forage millet hybrids produced 15 percent more dry matter than commercially available forage pearl millet hybrids and 19 percent more than forage sorghums, Andrews said. They also have better multi-cut and regrowth potential than conventional forage hybrids and resist rusts that plague pearl millet in the southern United States.

Some pearl millet forage grows in western Nebraska, but the South is the main U.S. growing region, where farmers graze, hay or green chop the tall, leafy plants.

Walter Moss Seed Co. of Waco, Texas, markets Mega Mil, a hybrid made with NU's forage millet male seed parent, through a university licensing agreement. Licensing fees support NU's pearl millet research.

- Vicki Miller

IANR Plant Breeder David Andrews stands by towering, high-tonnage forage millet developed at NU. A non-heading, high-tonnage forage millet being marketed in the U.S. is one spinoff of IANR plant breeders' efforts to develop improved feed grain pearl millets.