Abstract
Samples of whole stover and leaf, stem and sheath fractions were collected from six pearl millet cultivars grown at two contrasting locations in India. Plants grown under conditions of drought stress were shorter (P<0.001) with higher proportions of leaf (P<0.001) and leaf sheath (P<0.001) than those with less restricted water supply. Cultivars differed in length of the vegetative phase as measured by days taken to reached 50% flowering (P<0.001), plant height, (P<0.001) and percentage stover produced (P<0.05). Drought stress was associated with the production of stover that was more soluble in pepsin-cellulase (P<0.001). Cultivars also exhibited significant differences in pepsin-cellulase solubility (P<0.05). It was not possible, however, to relate these differences between cultivars closely to morphological characteristics of the plant.
