A field technique to screen seedling emergence of pearl millet and sorghum through soil crusts

Seeds of Pennisetum americanum and Sorghum bicolor were sown on raised broad beds in an alfisol field. Water (35 mm) was applied at a rate of 14 mm/h. A crust of relatively constant strength in different tests formed as the surface dried out. The crust was broken in the control treatment and the ratio of emergence through the crust to that found in the control (c/u) was used to classify the tested lines. Of 285 P. americanum germplasm entries tested, Zimbabwe 6QQ, Sudan 15K and Togo P3271 gave c/u values >0.8. Of 82 germplasm and 44 breeding lines of S. bicolor, the most promising was IS2877 (c/u = 1.0