Climate change impacts and potential benefits of drought tolerance in Pearl millet for adapting to climate change

The study presents the results of simulation exercise of Pearl millet crop in future climate change scenarios using DSSAT model in select locations in India and two locations in West Africa. ICMH356 and Sharda cultivars were used in simulations for Indian locations and CIVT cultivar was used for simulations for African locations The input data for the simulation were obtained from various sources. Long term weather data data were taken from IMD, soil data were obtained from the soil bulletins, solar radiation has been estimated as per the methodology prescribed in Bristow and Campbell,1984. For the African sites soil and long term weather data were obtained from the ICRISAT weather stations. The study clearly points out to the need for location specific breeding of Pearl millet cultivar for higher yields under climate change.