The,Breeding,and,Cultivation,Techniques,of,Zhangzagu,No.22

Qian WANG Wenjie BAI Lina ZHANG Xiaolei FENG Jianyong YANG Gaolei SHI Shuai MENG Guoliang SONG Zhihai ZHAO Guangyu FAN

Abstract Zhangzagu No.22 was a new high-quality millet cultivar adapted to the climate characteristics of the summer sowing areas, which was selected by the Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Sciences with sterile line A2 as the female parent and ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father as the male parent. Zhangzagu No.22 has a growth period of 88 d in summer, and exhibits green seedlings, spindle-shaped panicles, a plant height of 135-145 cm, a panicle length of 23-28 cm, a grain weight per panicle of 18-22 g, a 1 000-grain weight of 2.90 g, yellow rice, and resistance to herbicide Nabujing. In 2018, it passed the registration of non-major crop varieties by the Ministry of Agriculture, with the registration number: GPD Millet(2018) 130193. This study introduced the breeding process, variety characteristics and related cultivation techniques of Zhangzagu No.22.

Key words Millet; Breeding; Cultivation; Zhangzagu No.22

Received: November 28, 2020  Accepted: January 3, 20

Supported by National Key R&D Program (2019YFD1001700); National Millet and Sorghum Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System Project (CARS-06-13.5-A5); Special Funds for Transformation of Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements of Hebei Technological Innovation Guidance Program Project (20826401D).

Qian WANG (1983-), male, P. R. China, agronomist, devoted to research about millet breeding.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: fanguangyu0203@126.com.

Today, when environmental problems are becoming more and more prominent, drought is becoming more serious, and grains are appreciating day by day［1-2］. Millet, as a water-saving and drought-resistant environmentally friendly grain, has a great potential for utilization. In the past, breeding was mainly for high yield, ignoring quality and production-related traits［3］. With social progress, economic development, improvement of peoples living standards and changes in ideological concepts, conducting breeding for high-quality and new plant-type millet is of great significance for improving quality and efficiency, improving resistance, meeting dietary needs and earning foreign exchange through exports. Guided by social needs, according to the environmental climate and grain blast and other related diseases in the millet summer sowing area, a new variety Zhangzagu No.22 was selected using the female parent sterile line A2 and the male parent ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father by Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Science with excellent rice quality, strong disease resistance and stress resistance as goals based on the principle of complementary parental traits in 2009［6-8］. In 2018, it passed the registration of non-major crop varieties by the Ministry of Agriculture, with the registration number: GPD Millet (2018) 130193.

Parent Sources and Breeding

Breeding of the sterile line

The female parent of Zhangzagu No.22, sterile line A2, is a photo-thermo-sensitive sterile line selected by Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and is a derivative line of the millet photo-thermo-sensitive sterile source ‘821. Its sterility gene is controlled by a pair of nuclear recessive genes, with high sterility and good combining ability. The seedlings are yellow and turn light green after jointing. The plants are relatively short, which is convenient for field pollination. The spike length is 20 cm, spindle-shaped, and the 1 000-grain weight is 2.80 g.

Breeding of the restorer line

The male parent of Zhangzagu No.22 is ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father. In 2006, the tropical blood millet material ‘32 × ISE375 was selected and crossed with the herbicide-resistant restorer line ‘Xiagu No.1 Fu, obtaining the F0 generation ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father. In 2007, with herbicide resistance, disease resistance, high quality and wide adaptability as the breeding goals, the ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father line was selected from the large population of its F3 generation. From 2008 to 2009, the materials with high combining ability were selected from the ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father line and subjected to selfing for 3 consecutive generations, and a restorer line ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father with stable agronomic traits was obtained. The growth period of summer sowing is 88 d, and the restorer line has green seedlings, a plant height of 135-145 cm, spindle-shaped panicles with a length of 23-28 cm, a grain weight per panicle of 18-22 g, a 1 000-grain weight of 2.90 g, yellow grains and rice, and resistance to herbicide Nabujing. The pedigree diagram is shown in Fig. 1.

Breeding of Zhangzagu No.22 hybrid

In the winter of 2009, the restorer line ‘32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father was tested and combined with the sterile line A2, and the seed hybrid combination ‘A2 × (32 × ISE375 × Xia1 father) was obtained.

Varietal characteristics

Biological characteristics

The growth period of summer sowing for Zhangzagu No.22 is 86 d. It has the characteristics of green seedlings, a plant height of 124.30 cm, a panicle length of 22.81 cm, spindle-shaped panicles with loose grains, yellow grains and yellow rice, a panicle weight of 18.65 g, a grain weight per panicle of 15.17 g, a percentage of grain of 82.50%, a percentage of husked rice of 80.20%, and a 1 000-grain weight of 2.80 g. There are 1 to 2 tillers per plant.

Stress resistance

Zhangzagu No.22 is resistant to millet blast, millet downy mildew and nematodosis, and the nematode incidence rate and insect-infected rate were 0.21% and 0.14%, respectively. It has moderate resistance to grain rust, and is resistant to Nabujing herbicide.

Suitable planting areas

It is suitable for summer planting in areas with an accumulated temperature (≥10 ℃) above 3 000 ℃, such as Henan Province, central and southern Hebei Province, and Liaoning.

Yield performance

The heterosis observation test was conducted in Xingtai and Handan from 2010 to 2011, with Zhangzagu No.8 as a control variety. The yield was 5 652 kg/hm2 in 2010 with a yield increase rate of 7.56%, and the yield in 2011 was 5 778 kg/hm2 with a yield increase rate of 8.15% (Table 1).

It participated in the regional test of the national summer millet hybrid group in North China from 2015 to 2016 with Zhangzagu No.8 as a control variety. The yield was 5 917.5 kg/hm2 in 2015 with an increase rate of 8.53%, and the yield in 2016 was 5 521.0 kg/hm2 with a yield increase rate of 13.54% (Table 2).

Field Management

Preparation before sowing

Planting field selection: The fields with sandy soil, relatively flat terrain, good ventilation and light transmission, far away from tall buildings, woods, roads and pollution sources should be selected, so as not to affect the normal growth of millet. Because the grains of the cereals are small, the soil needs to be finely prepared. Weeds and debris should be cleaned up before planting to avoid blocking the planter. Trial seeding should be conducted before sowing to adjust the seeding depth. Generally, the seeding depth is 3 to 5 cm, and the row spacing is 20 to 30 cm. After the trial is successful, the seeding will be carried out.

Sowing

The sowing time in the summer sowing areas is from June 10 to 30, and the seeding rate is 10.5-15.0 kg/hm2.

Fertilization

As the base fertilizer, 375 kg of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizer and 30 000 to 45 000 kg of organic fertilizer are applied per hectare.

Field management

Weeding: 12.50% Nabujing herbicide is sprayed at 1 500 ml/hm2 on millet seedlings at the stage of 3 and 4 leaves to remove yellow selfing seedlings and control annual weeds.

Disease and pest control: The insect pests of millet mainly include millet stem borer, Oulema tristis, armyworm, etc. Due to the unique climatic characteristics of summer sowing areas, there are many millet diseases, mainly including millet downy mildew, millet bunt, millet rust, millet blast and sheath blight.

Seedling density: Seedlings are reserved according to 300 000-375 000 plants/hm2 in the case of sowing in line. It is recommended to use a planter for hole sowing, sowing more than 15 seeds per hole, 2 to 5 plants per hole, and 120 000 to 150 000 holes per hectare.

Top dressing: Urea is topdressed at 150 kg/hm2 at the jointing stage, and 300 kg/hm2 before heading, and foliar fertilizers such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate are applied at the filling stage to promote millet filling［9-11］.

Precautions

When sowing, the seeding rate should be determined according to soil moisture and climate characteristics. The Nabujing herbicide is applied before the stage of 7 leaves. This variety is a generation hybrid, and the seeds cannot be reserved for planting.

Millet downy mildew, nematodosis and millet smut can be controlled by seed dressing with microbicides. Grain blast, millet rust, and millet sheath blight can be controlled by spraying chemicals.

The yield, plant height and ear length of this variety differ due to the influences by factors such as planting area, planting density, soil fertility, management level and other factors. The filling period requires higher fertilizer and water.

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