Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

FERTILITY RESTORATION STUDIES IN SHORT DURATION REDGRAM [CAJANUS CAJAN (L.) MILL SP.] HYBRIDS INVOLVING CGMS SYSTEM

M.B. Patil, A.A. Khule, K. Satish, R.M. Chauhan and P.T. Patel

Abstract

Fertility restoration is a crucial requirement for successful hybrid synthesis using CGMS system in crops. The present investigation was carried out with five cytoplasmic male sterile lines were crossed with six fertility restorers to obtain information on the influence of restorer line in different CMS lines. Thirty CGMS based hybrids were synthesized by adopting L x T mating design with five cytoplasmic male sterile lines and six testers. The F1 hybrids along with parental lines [(P1) male sterile lines, (P2) fertility restorer lines], were tested for fertility restoration by observing the pollen fertility status in 2013-14 at Centre of Excellence for Research on Pulses, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India. The male sterile lines (P1) exhibited (100%) pollen sterility. The pollen fertility in fertility restorer lines (P2) varied from 97 to 100 per cent. The F1 generations of all the crosses exhibited pollen fertility varying from 96 to 100 per cent. Fertility restoration was consummately 100 per cent in all the individual plants in F1. This indicated that the fertility restoration has dominant genetic control. Whereas the mature anthers of male sterile lines (P1), restorer lines (P2), F1 hybrids were observed on visual basis for plant fertility status, indicated the result as (P1) - S (Sterile), (P2) - F (Fertile), F1 hybrids- F (Fertile) respectively. Pollen fertility test carried out for confirmation of fertility in F1 hybrids is one of the important factor for commercialization of CGMS system based hybrids at door step of farming community.