Advances in Pearl Millet Hybrid Breeding and Development of Parental Lines

Significant heterosis, stable male sterility systems, effective fertility restoration, and ease in selfing and crossing enabled breeders to enhance genetic gains in pearl millet through hybrid breeding. More than 50 years of breeding efforts in India and elsewhere utilizing germplasm from Asian and African regions have led to the development of a diverse array of trait- and adaptation-specific seed and restorer parental lines in productive backgrounds. Clarity on product profiles in breeding programs, maintaining significant genetic diversity among breeding lines, keeping seed and restorer parents in two separate heterotic pools, strong screening protocols for biotic and abiotic stresses, using molecular markers to select traits of interest, and utilization of tools to predict heterosis will be the key factors to move further in enhancing the hybrid potential of this crop in different regions of the world.