Assessing parental lines and crosses for shoot fly resistance in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]

Abstract

Shoot fly is a key pest of sorghum in many countries including India. Resistance breeding towards shoot fly is important to address the need of resource poor farmers of the semi-arid tropics. Shoot fly resistance response was studied among 19 parental lines and 78 hybrids in two diverse environments. Cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines, MS 104A and SPSFR 9401 OA and testers, SFCR 125, SFCR 151, ICSV 705, ICSV 708 and PS 30710 were identified as best for shoot fly resistance traits. The hybrids based on shoot fly resistant CMS and restorer lines had significantly lower proportion of oviposition and dead hearts than the hybrids based on other cross combinations. Leaf glossiness and trichome density revealed high correlation with shoot fly resistance. Thus, while breeding for shoot fly resistance efforts are needed to focus on combining both the traits among the hybrids.