Skip to content

Pearl millet bajra sajja cultivation Photo: James Gordon from Los Angeles, California, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source ↗

Pearl millet (bajra, sajja) cultivation

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) — known as bajra in Hindi and sajja in Telugu — is the most important rainfed cereal of dry semi-arid India after sorghum. It tolerates the highest temperatures (up to 42 deg C), the lowest rainfall (250-500 mm), and the shallowest sandy soils of any major cereal. India accounts for roughly 41% of world production, with Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka and the Rayalaseema-Telangana belt of Andhra and Telangana as the principal growing zones.

Key features

  • Family: Poaceae; Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.
  • Duration: 70-95 days for hybrids; 100-120 days for late landraces
  • Optimum temperature: 28-35 deg C; tolerates up to 42 deg C
  • Rainfall: 250-500 mm; salt and drought tolerant
  • Soils: shallow sandy loams to medium black; tolerates pH 5-8.5
  • Productivity: 1.5-2.0 t/ha rainfed hybrids; 3-4 t/ha irrigated

Cultivation

Pearl millet is sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon (June-July) in the major zones and as a rabi crop on residual moisture in parts of southern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Seed rate is 4-5 kg/ha; spacing is 45 x 15 cm. Recommended fertiliser dose is 50-60 kg N + 30 kg P2O5 + 20 kg K2O per hectare under rainfed conditions, applied in two splits. ICAR-AICRP and ICRISAT hybrids dominate commercial cultivation — 86M86, 86M88, HHB-67 Improved, HHB-216, ICMH-356, GHB-905 and MPMH 17, MPMH 21 — with very short duration HHB-67 Improved suited to drought-escape sowings.

ICAR-IIMR and AICRP package emphasises intercropping with redgram (2:1 sajja-redgram), cluster bean (guar) or castor on a 6:1 ratio for risk-spreading on rainfed land. In Anantapur, sajja is also sown as a relay or replacement when the kharif groundnut sowing fails due to monsoon delay.

Pests and diseases

The major biotic constraints are:

  • Downy mildew (green ear disease) caused by Sclerospora graminicola — the principal disease, controlled by resistant hybrids and metalaxyl seed treatment
  • Smut, ergot and rust: minor under improved hybrids, more common in old landraces
  • Shoot fly (Atherigona approximata) — a localised early-season pest in late-sown crops, see also sorghum shoot fly
  • Earhead caterpillar and grey weevil: damage at grain-fill stage; managed with neem-based or chlorantraniliprole-based sprays

Usage and adoption

Pearl millet is a dual-purpose crop. Grain feeds the household as roti, ambali (porridge) and laddu, and is increasingly used in milled flour, malt drinks and ICDS / school-feeding under the Indian Year of Millets push. The high-iron biofortified hybrid Dhanashakti (ICMS 8511 Selection-1) and HHB-299 carry +9-15 ppm iron and zinc above check varieties and are pushed for nutrition programmes. The stover is one of the highest-quality fodders for dairy and sheep — 6-7 t/ha green stover is produced from a normal crop, and pearl millet hay sells at a premium in drought years. Forage hybrids (Giant Bajra, PCB-164) are grown specifically for cut-and-carry dairy fodder.

Limitations

Compared with maize and wheat, pearl millet sells at lower mandi prices despite higher nutritional density. Storage losses to weevils and rodents reach 10-15% in farm storage. Hybrid seed is dominated by private companies; landrace seed self-replication does not match hybrid yield.

See also: Ragi finger millet, Foxtail millet (korralu), Sorghum (jowar), Sorghum shoot fly, Anantapur district profile.

Sources

  1. Pearl millet package of practices. ICAR-AICRP on Pearl Millet, Jodhpur.
  2. Bajra / Pennisetum glaucum. ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad.
  3. Biology of Pennisetum glaucum. ICAR Biosafety Portal.