Purpose of Description

ICTP 8203 is an open-pollinated variety which was released in December 1988 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, for cultivation inMaharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as MP 124 (ICTP 8203).

Origin and Development

ICTP 8203 was produced by random mating five S2 progenies of an Iniari (early-maturing) landrace originating from northern Togo. Initially, 37  penpollinated heads of this landrace sown in border rows of late-maturing breeding lines growing in the ICRISAT cooperative nursery at Kamboinse, Burkina Faso, were selected in the rainy season of 1980. These were grown as half-sibs at ICRISAT Center, and advanced to produce S2 progenies with visual selection for yielding ability and adaptation at each selfing generation. Ninety-nine S2 progenies were evaluated in a replicated trial at Bhavanisagar,Patancheru (ICRISAT Center), and Hisar. Based on visual selection for grain yield and phenotypic similarity for plant height, maturity, and head type, fiveS2 progenies were selected and the sib-multiplied seeds of these were crossed in a diallel fashion in the dry season of 1983. The variety, made by bulkingequal amounts of seed of the resulting 10 crosses, was first tested in the rainy season of 1983. Since then, ICTP 8203 has been maintained once by controlled crossing and subsequently by random mating in isolation, whilst discarding a proportion of the plants by roguing.