Evaluation Of Genotypes For Fertility Restoring And Maintaining Behaviors In Rice Oryza Sativa L.

Abstract The narrow genetic base and inadequate number of parental lines are the major constrains for the development of location specific hybrid varieties in rice. The commercial exploration of hybrid in rice has been made possible by identification of parental lines ie maintainers and restorers. A study was conducted on ten cytoplasmic male sterile CMS lines and twenty five elite rice genotypes of diverse source of origin to evaluate the genotypes in order to identify potential restorers and maintainers from test crosses. The F1s crossed between genotypes and CMS lines expressed different fertility reactions. Among the tested genotypes twelve genotypes expressed restorer R reaction and two exhibited maintainer M reaction. The identified maintainers and restorers were locally well adopted. The identified genotypes can play a pivotal role in hybrid rice development.