Potential advantages of male-sterile F 1 hybrids for use as seed parents of three-way hybrids in pearl millet

Abstract

Nine male-sterile F 1 hybrids, developed from crosses between A-lines and distantly related maintainer lines (B-lines) and intended for use as seed parents of three-way hybrids, were compared with their 10 inbred parental lines across 11 year-location environments in India. The F 1 hybrids from crosses between A-lines and more distantly related B-lines yielded 64–107% more than their respective higher-yielding inbred seed parents. Such high grain yields were achieved even in those F 1 seed parents that were as early in maturity as their earlier-maturing inbred seed parents. Thus, flowering of high-yielding but the otherwise late maturing inbred seed parents can be modified in F 1 seed parents such that the latter can be used to produce seed of early maturing three-way hybrids without any need for staggering with the early maturing pollen parents. The dominant nature of downy mildew resistance observed in this study indicated that F 1 seed parents can help salvage and extend the commercial viability of promising inbred seed parents that might have become susceptible during long-term and large scale deployment. F 1 seed-parent technology provides more cost-effective and more predictable seed production than is possible with inbred seed parents. It also provides for more effective manipulation of flowering of the later-maturing inbred seed parents towards earliness and better downy mildew disease management.