Purpose of description

Male-sterile line I C M A 841 and its maintainer I C M B 841 were recommended by the A l l India Coordinated Pearl Millet Improvement Project (AICPMIP) in 1988 for large-scale distribution and utilization for producing experimental hybrids. These lines are the seed parents of three hybrids, Pusa 23, I C M H 423, and Pusa 322, which have been released for cultivation throughout India.

Origin and development

I C M A 841 and I C M B 841 were developed f r om 5141A and 5141B, which were bred and released by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. Although 5141A and 5141B were resistant to downy mildew in India initially, the resistance was later overcome by the populations of the pathogen in some parts of the country. The original 5141A (stock no. 8035) and 5141B (stock no. 8038) showed genetic variability for several traits, including resistance to downy mildew, when sown in the downy mildew nursery at ICRISAT Asia Center (IAC). Vigorous downy-mildew-free 5141B plants were selfed and crossed w i th downy-mildew-free plants of 5141A. This process of selection, selling, and backcrossing was repeated twice a year for four generations using pedigree selection in the downy mildew nursery. I C M A 841 and I C M B 841 were chosen from the resulting A/B pairs on the basis of phenotypic similarity, high vigor, good tillering, good seed set, and freedom from downy mildew.