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Exploitation of Heterosis in Pearl Millet: A Review

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11586/
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9070807
doi:10.3390/plants9070807
 
Title Exploitation of Heterosis in Pearl Millet: A Review
 
Creator Srivastava, R K
Bollam, S
Pujarula, V
Pusuluri, M
Singh, R B
Potupureddi, G
Gupta, R
 
Subject Pearl Millet
Genetics and Genomics
 
Description The phenomenon of heterosis has fascinated plant breeders ever since it was first described
by Charles Darwin in 1876 in the vegetable kingdom and later elaborated by George H Shull and
Edward M East in maize during 1908. Heterosis is the phenotypic and functional superiority
manifested in the F1 crosses over the parents. Various classical complementation mechanisms gave
way to the study of the underlying potential cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for
heterosis. In cereals, such as maize, heterosis has been exploited very well, with the development of
many single-cross hybrids that revolutionized the yield and productivity enhancements. Pearl millet
(Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) is one of the important cereal crops with nutritious grains and lower
water and energy footprints in addition to the capability of growing in some of the harshest and most
marginal environments of the world. In this highly cross-pollinating crop, heterosis was exploited
by the development of a commercially viable cytoplasmic male-sterility (CMS) system involving a
three-lines breeding system (A-, B- and R-lines). The first set of male-sterile lines, i.e., Tift 23A and
Tift18A, were developed in the early 1960s in Tifton, Georgia, USA. These provided a breakthrough
in the development of hybrids worldwide, e.g., Tift 23A was extensively used by Punjab Agricultural
University (PAU), Ludhiana, India, for the development of the first single-cross pearl millet hybrid,
named Hybrid Bajra 1 (HB 1), in 1965. Over the past five decades, the pearl millet community has
shown tremendous improvement in terms of cytoplasmic and nuclear diversification of the hybrid
parental lines, which led to a progressive increase in the yield and adaptability of the hybrids that were
developed, resulting in significant genetic gains. Lately, the whole genome sequencing of Tift 23D2B1
and re-sequencing of circa 1000 genomes by a consortium led by the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been a significant milestone in the development of
cutting-edge genetic and genomic resources in pearl millet. Recently, the application of genomics
and molecular technologies has provided better insights into genetic architecture and patterns of
heterotic gene pools. Development of whole-genome prediction models incorporating heterotic
gene pool models, mapped traits and markers have the potential to take heterosis breeding to a new
level in pearl millet. This review discusses advances and prospects in various fronts of heterosis for
pearl millet.
Keywords:
 
Publisher MDPI
 
Date 2020-06
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11586/1/plants-09-00807.pdf
Srivastava, R K and Bollam, S and Pujarula, V and Pusuluri, M and Singh, R B and Potupureddi, G and Gupta, R (2020) Exploitation of Heterosis in Pearl Millet: A Review. Plants, 9 (807). pp. 1-25. ISSN 2223-7747