143 A high yielding samai variety CO(Samai) 4 Madras Agric. J., 93 (7-12) : 143-149 July-December 2006 A.NIRMALAKUMARI, N.KUMARAVADIVEL, A.JOHN JOEL, N. SENTHIL, K. MOHANASUNDARAM, T.S. RAVEENDRAN AND T. RAGUCHANDER Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003. Abstract : A high yielding and early maturing samai culture TNAU 91 was developed at the Department of Millets, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and released as CO(Samai) 4. It is a derivative of the cross involving CO 2 x MS 1684. It yields on an average 1567 kg ha -1 of grain and 5783 kg ha -1 of straw under rainfed condition. Being a short duration variety (75-80 days), it fits well in the existing double cropped rainfed situation of North, North Western and Western zones of Tamil Nadu where samai is grown in June-July as a preceding crop to horsegram in about 80,000 ha. This culture has registered 14.2, 12.7 and 19.9 per cent increased grain yield over the standard varieties CO3, Paiyur 2 and OLM 203 (National check) in station trials, multilocation trials, All India coordinated trials, adaptive research trials and on farm trials respectively. Keywords : CO (Samai)4, Samai, high yielding, short duration. Introduction A member of sub-family Panicoideae of the family Poaceae, Samai (Panicum miliare Lamk) [Syn. P.sumatrense Roth ex Roem. and Schult] is widely cultivated as a cereal across India, Nepal, Western Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South East Asian countries. It is grown both in the tropics and sub-tropics and even at an altitude of 7000 feet (Daniel Sundararaj and Thulasidas, 1993). The crop is hardy and provide reasonable harvest even in degraded soils under unfavourable weather conditions. Nutritionally the grains are comparable or even superior to major cereals. The grain protein is rich in essential amino acids. Presently samai is grown throughout India in more than half a million hectare with major areas being in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The crop is often sown with the onset of monsoon and is the first crop to be harvested in the season (Haider, 1997). Because of high tolerance to heat and drought, samai is preferred for extreme soil and climatic conditions. In Tamil Nadu, samai is grown in 80,000 ha with the productivity of 732 kg ha -1 at Dharmapuri, Krishinagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Coimbatore, Madurai and Vellore districts. A high yielding, drought resistant and short duration strain is the long felt need of the dry land, hill area and tribal farmers of Tamil Nadu. With this objective breeding work was initiated and a new high yielding CO(Samai) 4 variety was developed to increase the production and productivity of samai in Tamil Nadu, where samai is grown predominantly under double cropped rainfed situation.