B.C. PENGELLY, J.B. HACKER and D.A. EAGLES

Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A collection of 322 accessions of Cenchrus ciliaris and C. setiger was grown and classified using 11 agronomic attributes. Six groups were recognised largely on the basis of rhizome development, plant maturity and yield.
Variation within and differences between the established groups enabled criteria to be set for the selection of accessions for evaluation studies. Group membership was clearly linked to origin and the classification emphasised the bias in the collection of east African genetic material from which most cultivars have been developed and the poor representation of Asian and north and west African accessions.