ABSTRACT
Schnell (1959) provided a rst report on rye with cytoplasmic-genic pollen sterility (see Table 6.1). He found numerous offspring showing pollen sterility in selfed lines of European rye varieties. However, the inheritance of the characteristic was not clear (Kobyljanski 1969). More extensive crossing experiments, however, demonstrated the presence of cytoplasmic-genic inheritance of male sterile plants in rye (Geiger and Schnell 1970). Systematic screenings and genetic studies carried out at the University of Hohenheim (Germany) since 1966 in 46 European, 1 Argentinean, and 96 Iranian accessions yielded a cytoplasmic male sterile sample from Argentina, further on designated as the line with P-cytoplasm (see Table 6.1). It became important as the main constituent for the German hybrid-breeding program and behaved analogous to the Texas cytoplasm in maize.
