Evaluation of different CMS lines for out crossing potential in rice

A total of 74 CMS lines in rice and their maintainers were evaluated for morphological and floral characters influencing out crossing rate. Out of 74 CMS lines, forty two CMS lines were completely pollen sterile. For all other CMS lines spikelet fertility ranged from 0.51 to 4.55 per cent. The medium duration CMS lines viz., COMS 13, COMS 15, IR 68281, IR 69626, DRR 7, RTN 6, RTN 13 and PMS 17 were found promising for the characters viz., pollen sterility (%), glume angle, panicle exsertion (%), stigma exsertion (%), natural out crossing (%) and medium duration favorable for out-crossing during seed production of A x B and A x R combinations. These CMS lines offer scope for utilizing in the development three line hybrids with high yield in rice.