Potential Seed Yield of Sterile F1 and 3-Way Crosses on Forage Sorghum-Sudan Hybrid in Egypt

Male-sterile F1\u27s from A x B line crosses and inbred A-lines of sorghum (Sorghum bicolar (L.) Moench) were investigated in relation to commercial production of hybrid seeds. Eight cytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) A-lines, maintainer B-lines and the fertility restoring (R) sudangrass cultivar Greenleaf were selected to produce the hybrids evaluated in this study. Estimates of the parameters that describe seed yield and its components indicated that there were no general advantages for using sterile single crosses (SSC) over their prenatal (A) lines as the seed parent. As a group, the three-way hybrids and sterile single cross two way hybrids were not significantly different for any trait. However, some particular crosses showed significant positive heterosis for seed yield and its components, suggesting that dominant and epistatic gene actions were the cause of their superior performance. Therefore, the extra expense encountered in producing seed of a three-way sorghumsudangrass hybrid could be compensated for by using the superior crosses identified in this study