Male sterile line

• A rice line that cannot produce viable pollen due to the interaction between cytoplasmic and nuclear genes is described as being cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS).

• It is used as a female parent for hybrid rice seed production.

• The male sterile line is commonly called a CMS line, the seed parent, the female parent, or the A line.

• Panicles may not exsert fully. Their basal portion remains inside the flag leaf sheath.

• Anthers are pale or white and shrivelled.

• The flowering period usually lasts for 7 days.