Variations Introduced in Sorghum Through Pollination with Maize

Repeated pollinations of sorghum lines with pregerminated pollen from inbred maize lines resulted in large de novo variation in F2. Though the phenotypes of all the plants were biased towards sorghum, traits of maize such as leaf anatomy and morphology were observed in some of the crosses. RAPD marker analysis of the derivatives in advanced stages of generation showed maize-specific bands. It was interesting to note that diverse types of sorghum emanated from a single cross. We present the stable inheritance of variation, thus introducing agronomically superior, novel, pre-breeding lines for sorghum crop improvement through incompatible pollinations.