A new late-maturing barnyard millet (Echinochloa esculenta) cultivar, ‘Man-on’ (breeding line BM4), was developed by the National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea, to diversify maturity types and improve the utilization of barnyard millet in summer forage production systems. The breeding population originated from local barnyard millet germplasm collected in Jeju Island in 2016. Individual plant selection and pure-line selection were conducted from 2018 to 2021, followed by a yield trial in 2022 and regional adaptability trials from 2023 to 2025. ‘Man-on’ was characterized by an erect growth habit, long and broad flag leaves, relatively thick stems, and long, horizontally oriented panicles with a light-purple color. The average heading date was August 30, similar to that of the late-maturing Jeju local barnyard millet, confirming a late-maturing growth habit. The mean plant height was 182.8 cm, approximately 10.2 cm shorter than that of the check cultivar, the Jeju local barnyard millet. The average dry matter yield across the regional adaptability trials was 14,492 kg/ha, corresponding to 96% of the yield of the check (15,110 kg/ha), with no significant difference between genotypes. ‘Man-on’ exhibited lodging resistance comparable to that of the check. At heading stage, ‘Man-on’ had acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) contents of 36.0, 65.9, 6.2, and 60.5%, respectively. In particular, NDF was lower and CP was higher than those of the check. These results indicate that ‘Man-on’ is a distinct late-maturing barnyard millet cultivar with forage productivity and favorable nutritive characteristics. Its extended vegetative growth period may provide an additional maturity option for integrating barnyard millet into diversified annual forage cropping systems in Korea.

ABSTRACT
Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
Ⅱ. MATERIALS AND METHODS
    1. Breeding process and line selection
    2. Evaluation of agronomic characteristics of ‘Man-on’
    3. Regional adaptability trials
    4. Evaluation of disease and insect resistance
    5. Forage nutritive value analysis
    6. Statistical analysis
Ⅲ. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
    1. Morphological and agronomic characteristics of‘Man-on’
    2. Lodging, disease, and insect resistance
    3. Dry matter yield performance
    4. Forage nutritive value
Ⅳ. CONCLUSION
Ⅴ. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Ⅵ. REFERENCES

• Bo Ram Choi(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea)
• Chang-Woo Min(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea)
• Yowook Song(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea)
• Hyung Soo Park(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea)
• Sang-Hoon Lee(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea)
• Ki-Won Lee(Forages Production Systems Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea) Corresponding author