Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2008
Hybrids made for the first time on six experimental photosensitive sorghum seed parents (whose breeding is described) were tested with their pollen parents, which included good dwarf varieties, in replicated small plot trials at Samaru in 1972. Grain yields of up to 5000 kg./ha. were recorded from hybrids with acceptable plant types and grain qualities, which was 40 per cent more than from the best varieties. Some hybrids, though giving over 6000 kg./ha., were unacceptable due to excessive plant height or poor grain appearance. Seed parent yields, determined in an adjacent trial, ranged from 1700 to 2900 kg./ha.