Baby corn has become a popular dietary choice worldwide. Here, we evaluated the potential of different male sterility systems as a tool to save cost for manual detasseling in baby corn. 24 hybrids having fertile (N-) and different sterile (T-, C- and S-) cytoplasms were analyzed for pollen sterility and various baby corn traits under three dates of sowing. ANOVA revealed significant genetic variation for number of baby corn ears, baby corn yield, length and width of baby corn ears, fodder weight and silking time. Cytoplasm and date of sowing caused significant variation for majority of baby corn characters. All the T-cytoplasm based hybrids showed no exertion of anthers and complete sterility except in one combination. C-cytoplasm based hybrids showed no to partial anther exertion and complete sterility to partial fertility of pollen. The S-type cytoplasm was quite unstable and showed partial to complete anther exertion and pollen fertility. Across hybrids and sowing time, T-cytoplasm had the highest number of baby corn ears per plot (61.83) and baby corn weight (2659.61 kg/ha) than C-cytoplasm (58.61, 2460.17 kg/ha), N-cytoplasm (57.39, 2323.08 kg/ha) and S-cytoplasm (56.83, 2301.89 kg/ha). The highest baby corn ear -length (8.82 cm), -diameter (1.48 cm), and fodder weight (35.07 t/ha) were recorded in T-cytoplasm. Late sowing had positive effects on baby corn over early planting. This information provides great significance for the utilization of male sterility in baby corn breeding. This is the first report on effects of different male sterility systems as a potential genetic emasculation mechanism in baby corn cultivation.

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T-、C-和S-细胞质对雄性不育的影响及其在小玉米杂交育种中的应用

小玉米已成为全球流行的饮食选择。在这里，我们评估了不同雄性不育系统作为节省人工去雄玉米幼苗成本的工具的潜力。在三个播种日期下分析了具有可育 (N-) 和不同不育 (T-、C- 和 S-) 细胞质的 24 个杂种的花粉不育性和各种幼玉米性状。方差分析揭示了幼玉米穗数、幼玉米产量、幼玉米穗长度和宽度、饲料重量和吐丝时间的显着遗传变异。细胞质和播种日期对大多数小玉米性状造成显着差异。除一种组合外，所有基于T细胞质的杂种均未显示出花药和完全不育。基于 C 细胞质的杂种表现出没有到部分花药发挥和完全不育对部分花粉的生育力。S型细胞质非常不稳定，表现出部分完全的花药发挥和花粉育性。在杂交种和播种时间中，与 C 细胞质（58.61、2460.17 公斤/公顷）、N 细胞质（57.39 , 2323.08 kg/ha) 和 S-细胞质 (56.83, 2301.89 kg/ha)。在 T 细胞质中记录了最高的幼玉米穗长 (8.82 cm)、直径 (1.48 cm) 和饲料重量 (35.07 t/ha)。与早播相比，晚播对小玉米有积极影响。该信息对利用雄性不育育种玉米幼苗具有重要意义。这是关于不同雄性不育系统作为玉米幼苗种植中潜在遗传去雄机制的影响的第一份报告。