IDENTIFICATION AND INHERITANCE OF MALE-STERILITY IN GROUNDNUT (ARACHIS-HYPOGAEA L)

Some plants without pods but with gynophores were observed in two F-4 progenies of two crosses of goundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). The flower s on these plants had translucent white anthers with no or a few steri le pollen grains. Three such plants in the succeeding generation were hand pollinated with pollen from a short-duration Indian cv. JL 24. Th e resulting Fl hybrid plants (male sterile x 'JL 24') were normal. Chi -square tests for segregation for male fertile and male sterile plants in F-2 and F-3 generations indicated that the male sterility in these crosses of groundnut is governed by two recessive genes. We designate these genes as ms(1) and ms(2) with ms(1)ms(1)ms(2)ms(2) being a male sterile genotype.