OAR@ICRISATPotential advantages of male-sterile F1 hybrids for use as seed parents of three-way hybrids in pearl milletK NRaiauthorSChandraauthorA SRaoauthorNine male-sterile F1 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 F1 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 F1 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 F1 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 F1 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. F1 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.Millets2000ElsevierArticle

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