Identification of fertility restorers and maintainers in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) from gene pools and exotic material

Diversification of parental base in any hybrid breeding programme is an important step to sustain the crop. For considering above was taken up to explore the possibilities of finding out good restorers and maintainers of sunflower based on sterility and pollen fertility. Thirty two inbreds of sunflower from gene pool (GP lines) and fourteen exotic collection (EC lines) inbreds of economic importance were crossed with six cytoplasmic male sterile lines viz., CMS-17A, CMS-2A, CMS-10A, CMS-234A, CMS-852A and CMS-7-1A in a Line x Tester fashion to study their maintainer or restorer reaction during kharif-2014. The accessions from gene pool, GP6-1051 acted as restorers for all six CMS lines. GP6-46 and GP6-236 were acted as restorers for CMS-10A, CMS-234A, CMS-852A and CMS-7-1A. It was found that GP6-54 of the restorer for CMS-10A and CMS-852A and maintainer for other CMS lines. From exotic collection EC-601622, EC-601664, EC-601666, EC-601672, EC-601691, EC-601726, EC-601821, EC-601848 and EC-601711-1 were acted as restorers for all six CMS lines. Majority of the gene pool lines and exotic collection were behaved as maintainer for all the CMS. The range of fertility restoration in different cross combinations was between 93.1 and 97.8 per cent. In the present study maximum frequency of pollen fertility restoration was reported for CMS-7-1A (41.3%) followed by CMS-852 (36.95%), CMS-234A (36.95%) and CMS-10A (34.78%). However, lowest frequency of pollen fertility restoration was observed for CMS-17A (28.26%).From the study it was evident that among the six CMS lines, restorers for CMS-17A are rather scarce. Efforts should be made to locate restorers for CMS-17A for its utilization in breeding of more productive sunflower hybrids.