Rajesh Kumar, P.M. Singh, D.R.

Bhardwaj,
Technology H.C. Prasanna, T. Chaubey, S. Pandey,
S.K. Tiwari, B.K. Singh, K.K. Gautam,
Y.S. Reddy and Gyan P. Mishra

Innovative tools for hybrid seed production

of vegetables
The choice of using F 1 hybrid seeds in vegetable production is increasing
worldwide owing to their yield potential, resistance, quality attributes and
storability. Hybrid varieties have been developed in those vegetable crops
which manifest distinct hybrid vigour. From the breeder’s point of view,
development of hybrid cultivars allows better control of intellectual property
rights including control and protection of parental lines. Although experimental
crosses can be developed through manual emasculation (in case of
hermaphrodite crops) followed by manual pollination of emasculated flowers
or pistilate flowers (in case of monoecious crops with separate staminate and
pistilate flowers), commercial seed production of hybrids is a costly affair.
Availability of cost effective mechanism/method to produce large-scale F1 seeds
exploiting selected parental lines is an important factor, which ultimately
determines the commercial viability of the hybrid varieties. A number of
mechanisms and methods have been evolved for the development of hybrids
in vegetable crops, however, only selected tools are utilized to develop
commercial hybrids of specific vegetables.

O VERALL, hybrid seed production of vegetable

crops is an expensive process, primarily due to
the work force required for emasculation and
pollination. Because of this, hybrid seed of these
species is considerably more expensive than for open-
pollinated cultivars. A number of mechanisms and
methods have been evolved for the development of
hybrids in vegetable crops, however, only selected
tools are utilized to develop commercial hybrids of
specific vegetables.
GENETICALLY CONTROLLED
POLLI NATION TOOLS
Male Sterility
Commercial production of F 1 hybrid seeds in
several vegetable crops has been accomplished using
hand emasculation, genic (or genetic) male sterility
(GMS) and cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). Manual
hybrid seed production, especially hand emasculation
is time consuming and labour intensive. Male
sterility can be used to reduce amount of labour
required and thus to reduce cost of hybrid seeds
along with increased purity of the F 1 seeds as no
self-pollination takes place. Male sterility is defined
as the abnormal condition in normally bisexual
plants (monoecious as well as hermaphrodite) when
no functional pollen is formed.
chillies, brinjal, okra, cabbage, cauliflower and many
other crops. The hybrid seed is produced by crossing
a male line that is male fertile and homozygous for
the dominant form of the MS allele with a female
line that is male sterile, i.e. homozygous for the
recessive form of ms. The hybrid seed is completely
heterozygous for ms, and therefore 100% male fertile.
The male sterility characteristic in GMS is
maintained by backcrossing it with the heterozygote
fertile. The progeny segregates into fertile (Msms)
and sterile (msms) plants in the ratio of 1:1. Male
sterile plants can be identified at the time of
flowering. The easiest way is to see presence/absence
of pollen by touching anthers of freshly opened
flowers on thumbnail or on a black paper. Presence
of whitish/creamy powdery mass (pollen) indicates
that the plant is fertile and vice-versa. A disadvantage
of this process is that 50% of the progeny, i.e. all
the heterozygous genotypes, must be eliminated prior
to pollination because these plants are fertile. In
some cases, ms alleles are linked with marker traits

Genic Male Sterility

Genic male sterility which is governed by General scheme of hybrid seed production using GMS
recessive nuclear genes has been reported in tomato, system

January-February 2016 29
 Kashi Surkh
CMS-based F1 chilli hybrids suitable for dry and green production
that may help in early identification of male-sterile
plants, so the male fertile genotypes can be removed
during their early development.
Exploiting the GMS system available in MS 12
in chilli, PAU, Ludhiana has developed two hybrids
viz. CH-1 and CH-3 for commercial cultivation. The
hybrid CH-1 had become an instant success with
Punjab growers and had been cultivated even in
adjoining states of Haryana, Rajasthan and
Uttarakhand.
Cytoplasmic Male Sterility
Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is another
means through which hybrids can be developed. It
is also called as 3-line breeding system for
production of hybrid seeds; ‘A’ line is the male
sterile line, ‘B’ line is the maintainer line and ‘R’ or
‘C’ line is the male fertile parental line or the
restorer line. In CMS system, the sterility mechanism
is determined by the interaction of cytoplasm and
the nuclear genes. The main advantage of CMS
system over the GMS system is that the progeny
(sterile line × maintainer line) is 100% male sterile
and the labour used for identifying male sterile plants
from the mixed population in the GMS system and
removal of male fertile plants, is saved. A sketch
diagram is given for method of seed multiplication
of male sterile line and hybrid seed production. This
reduces the hybrid seed cost and it also ensures
General scheme of hybrid seed production using
C-GMS system
30
Kashi Tej
purity of the hybrid seed. CMS system has been
used in development of hybrids in chilli, onion,
carrot, etc.
Commercial use of CMS for hybrid seed
production starts with the development of isogenic
lines incorporating the recessive rfrf maintainer gene;
one version carries the S-cytoplasm (A-line, sterile
cytoplasm) while the other carries the N-cytoplasm
(B-line, normal cytoplasm). Pollination of the sterile
A-line by the
male fertile B-line maintains the sterility of A-line.
B-line is propagated through self-pollination. For F 1
hybrid development, A-line is crossed with C-line
(pollen parent) that has ability to restore fertility of
the resultant hybrids.
Both the lines (A and C) should have good
combining ability to produce superior performing
F 1 hybrid. CMS-based hybrids, Kashi Surkh and
Kashi Tej, along with several F 1 hybrids at advanced
stage with higher yield potential and fruits having
dual purpose qualities have been developed at IIVR,
Varanasi.
Self-incompatibility
Among cruciferous vegetables like cabbage,
cauliflower, broccoli, radish etc., self-incompatibility
(SI) mechanism is being utilized for hybrid seed
production. The genetics of the self-incompatibility
system in the cruciferous crops is well developed
and consist of a series of genes (loci) and alleles.
There are two types of SI, viz. gametophytic
and sporophytic. In gametophytic system, SI reaction
of pollen and stigma is determined by the genotype
of the mother plant on which pollens are produced
(e.g. tomato) while in sporophytic system, pollen
phenotype (SI reaction) is determined by the
genotype of the mother plant on which pollens are
produced (e.g. cole vegetables). In Brassicaceae,
sporophytic self-incompatibility (SSI) has been best
characterized and successfully utilized for the
development of commercial hybrids.
Indian Horticulture
 For hybrid seed because such population
production, both the can be utilized as female
parental inbreds should parent and during hybrid
have two different S seed production, removal
alleles for strong self- of staminate flowers
incompatibility (in case would be easy and require
of single cross hybrid). less labour e.g. bitter
One SI inbred is used as gourd.
female parent and a good Ethephon has been the
pollinator (an open most extensively utilized
pollinated variety) as sex regulator to produce
male to develop top cross cost effective hybrid seeds
hybrid, while four SI in several monoecious
inbreds having altogether cucurbits like pumpkin,
different S alleles are muskmelon and cucumber.
used to produce double In muskmelon and
cross hybrids. Among the watermelon, application of
cole vegetables like ethephon led to an
cabbage, cauliflower, absence of staminate
broccoli etc. self- flowers for 40 days.
i n c o m p a t i b i l i t y Interestingly, successful
(sporophytic) mechanism uses of chemicals to
is being utilized for facilitate hybrid seed
hybrid seed production at Hybrid seed production utilizing CMS line in chilli production have been
several places including achieved in monoecious
India. Usually in cauliflowers, SI is weak and SI vegetables.
reaction breaks at high temperature, resulting into
selfing and sibbing (brother-sister mating) among SUMMARY
the plants of female parent, thus deterioration in Pollination control mechanism is helpful for
the genetic makeup of F 1 seeds. Following strategies making the hybrid seed production lucrative by
are utilized to overcome sibbing problem: (i) use of r e d u c i n g c o s t . T h e m a l e s t e r i l i t y a n d s e l f -
parental lines with synchronized flowering, (ii) use i n c o m p a t i b i l i t y m e c h a n i s m s a r e b e c o m i n g
of parental lines with similar morphology, (iii) increasingly important for hybrid seed production
pollination by stored pollen and (iv) use of male in vegetable crops. The CMS system is most widely
sterility as an alternative to SI inbreds. Due to the u t i l i z e d m e c h a n i s m f o r t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f
inherent advantages, the last option i.e. use of CMS commercial hybrids in several vegetables, however,
l i n e i s g e t t i n g m o r e a t t e n t i o n i n h y b r i d s e e d in many others it has not been exploited mainly
production of all cole vegetables. due to the non-availability of sterile cytoplasm (e.g.
eggplant, melons, etc.). Male sterile lines exist in
Gynoecism crops like chilli, radish, muskmelon, carrot and
Gynoecious sex expression has been reported in cauliflower useful for developing hybrid vigour.
both pickling and slicing type of cucumber and is Highly self-incompatible lines are available in radish
being used to develop cucumber hybrids. Hybrids and cauliflower for its commercial utilization in
developed utilizing gynoecious lines are having hybrid seed production.
parthenocarpic gene and do not require pollination
for fruit set. Use of silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ), 50-100 For further interaction, please write to:
ppm or silver thio-sulphate, 25-50 ppm on gynoecious Drs Rajesh Kumar, P.M. Singh, D.R. Bhardwaj, H.C.
plants at 2-3 leaf stage produces lots of staminate Pr a s a n n a , T. C h a u b e y, S. Pa n d e y, S.K . Ti w a r i , B. K .
flowers, which are used to multiply the seed of Singh, K.K. Gautam, Y.S. Reddy and Gyan P. Mishra,
gynoecious plants. In several cucurbits, populations ICAR- Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Shahanshahpur,
with high frequency of pistillate flowers are desirable Jakhini 221 305, Varanasi.

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For assistance contact:
Business Manager
Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture (DKMA)
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan, Pusa, New Delhi 110 012
Telefax: 011-2584 3657; E-mail: bmicar@gmail.com

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