INFLUENCE OF BORON ON YIELD AND GRAIN QUALITY OF PEARL-MILLET (PENNISETUM-GLAUCUM)

An experiment was conducted during the rainy season of 1991 to study t he effect of 7 concentrations of boron on 'WCC75' pearl millet [Pennis etum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend. Stuntz]. Boron @ 0.33 mg/litre gave th e highest weight of inflorescence (69.8 g/plant), grain yield (50.9 g/ plant), 100-grain weight (1.0 g) and biomass (117.1 g/plant). However, deficient or excess supply of B application adversely affected these characters. Its deficiency decreased the grain yield (1.3 g/plant) com pared with its excess supply (19.0 g/plant) and the effect was more ma rked on grain yield than on biomass. B @ 0.66 mg/litre resulted in a m inimum phenol (0.008%) and nitrate-N (0.10%) in the grain, which incre ased under its deficient (<0.33 mg/litre) or excess (>0.66 mg/litre) s upply. Though B decreased the concentrtion of protein (6.48 and 9.25%) and starch (5.87 and 6.52%) both at low as well as excess supply, at former level it had a greater accumulation of sugars (0.352%) compared with that at the latter level (0.194%). An increase in B supply incre ased its content in grain, however this increase was muchy less (3 mu g/g dry weight) than that in the leaves. Its deficiency or excess symp toms were apparent on young leaves under low (6.5 mu g/g dry matter) o r excess (268 mu g/g dry matter) content of B.