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Tag: CML

CIMMYT releases 32 new elite maize lines

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

Maize ears of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)

CIMMYT is pleased to announce the release of a set of 32 new CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs). These maize lines have been developed by CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The lines have diverse trait combinations and are suitable for the tropical/subtropical maize production environments targeted by CIMMYT and partner institutions.

CMLs are freely available to both public and private sector breeders worldwide under the standard material transfer agreement (SMTA).

CIMMYT seeks to develop improved maize inbred lines for different product profiles, with superior yield performance, multiple stress tolerance, and enhanced nutritional quality. CMLs are released after intensive evaluation in hybrid combinations under various abiotic and biotic stresses, besides optimum (non-stress) conditions in the target population of environments. Suitability as either female (seed) or male (pollen) parent is also evaluated. As done in the last announcement of CMLs in 2021, to increase the utilization of the CMLs in the maize breeding programs of the partner institutions, all the new CMLs are tested for their heterotic behavior and assigned to specific heterotic groups of CIMMYT: A and B.

The release of a CML does not guarantee high combining ability or per se performance in all the environments; rather, it indicates that the line is promising or useful as a parent for pedigree breeding or as a potential parent of hybrid combinations for specific mega-environments. The description of the lines includes heterotic group classification, along with information on their specific strengths and their general combining ability with some of the widely used CMLs or CIMMYT coded lines under different environments.

More information:

Summary of the characteristics: CIMMYT maize lines CML616A to CML647A (PDF)

Pedigree and characterization data of all the CMLs released to date, including the latest set (CIMMYT Research Data repository).

Seed for these new set of CMLs will be available from November 1, 2023.  A limited quantity of seed of the CMLs can be obtained by sending a request to the CIMMYT germplasm bank via this link: https://staging.cimmyt.org/resources/seed-request/ or contact, a.chassaigne@cgiar.org.

Please contact for any further details regarding the released CMLs: 

Dr B.M. Prasanna, Global Maize Program Director, CIMMYT & OneCGIAR Maize Breeding Lead (b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org)

Maize ears of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)

CIMMYT releases 12 new maize lines

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in News.

Maize ears of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Maize ears of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is pleased to announce the release of a set of 12 new CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs). These lines were developed at various breeding locations of CIMMYT’s Global Maize program by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The lines are adapted to the tropical maize production environments targeted by CIMMYT and partner institutions.

CIMMYT seeks to develop improved maize inbred lines in different product profiles, with superior performance and multiple stress tolerance to improve maize productivity for smallholder farmers. CMLs are released after intensive evaluation in hybrid combinations under various abiotic and biotic stresses, besides optimum conditions.  Suitability as either seed or pollen parent is also thoroughly evaluated.

To increase the utilization of the CMLs in maize breeding programs of partner institutions, all the new CMLs have been tested for their heterotic behavior and have been assigned to specific heterotic groups of CIMMYT: A and B. As a new practice, the heterotic group assignment is included in the name of each CML, after the CML number — for example, CML604A or CML605B.

Release of a CML does not guarantee high combining ability or per se performance in all environments. Rather, it indicates that the line is promising or useful as a parent for pedigree breeding or as a potential parent of hybrid combinations for specific mega-environments. The description of the lines includes heterotic group classification, along with information on their specific strengths, and their combining ability with some of the widely used CMLs or CIMMYT lines.

Plants of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Plants of the newly released set of CIMMYT maize lines. (Photo: CIMMYT)

More information:

Summary of the characteristics of the 12 new CMLs (PDF).

Pedigree and characterization data of all the CMLs released to date, including the latest set (CIMMYT Research Data repository).

Seed requests:

A limited quantity of seed of the CMLs can be obtained by sending a request to the CIMMYT Maize Germplasm Bank. CMLs are freely available to both public and private sector breeders worldwide under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement.

Contact:

For further details regarding the released CMLs, please contact B.M. Prasanna, Director of the Global Maize Program, CIMMYT, and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize.

CIMMYT releases 26 new maize lines

Written by Jennifer Johnson on . Posted in News.

The new lines are specifically adapted  to tropical/subtropical maize production environments in Africa, Asia and Latin America,  and are freely available to both public and private sector breeders worldwide.  

CML582, one of the 26 new CIMMYT maize lines released by the Center. Photo: CIMMYT.
CML582, one of the 26 new CIMMYT maize lines released by the Center. (Photo: CIMMYT)

CIMMYT is pleased to announce the release of a set of 26 new CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs). These CMLs were developed by the CIMMYT Global Maize Program’s multi-disciplinary teams of scientists at breeding locations in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. These lines are adapted to the tropical/subtropical maize production environments targeted by CIMMYT and partner institutions. CMLs are freely available to both public and private sector breeders worldwide under the standard material transfer agreement (SMTA).

CIMMYT seeks to develop improved maize inbred lines with superior performance and multiple stress tolerance to improve maize productivity for resource-constrained smallholder farmers.  To achieve this aim, CMLs are released after intensive evaluation in hybrid combinations under various abiotic and biotic stresses.  Suitability as either seed or pollen parent is also thoroughly evaluated.

Release of a CML does not guarantee high combining ability or per se performance in all environments; rather, it indicates that the line is promising or useful as a hybrid component or parent for pedigree breeding for one or more target mega-environments. The descriptions of the lines include heterotic group classification, along with information on their specific combining ability with widely-used CIMMYT lines.

For a summary of the 26 new CMLs, please click here.

Further details on all CMLs, including the pedigrees, are available here.

A limited quantity of seed of the CMLs can be obtained from the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank. To send a request, please contact Denise Costich, Head of the Maize Genetic Resources Center: d.costich@cgiar.org.

For further details, please contact B.M. Prasanna, Director of the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE and Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program: b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org.

Release of 22 new CIMMYT maize lines: CMLs 540 to 561

Written by on . Posted in News.

Nine of the CMLs in the list have already proven their mettle in breeding programs in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, CML541 and CM542 are among the constituent lines of ZM309, an improved, early-maturing, drought tolerant open-pollinated variety widely used for commercial cultivation in several African countries. Others have been used as parental lines for commercial hybrids.
Nine of the CMLs in the list have already proven their mettle in breeding programs in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, CML541 and CM542 are among the constituent lines of ZM309, an improved, early-maturing, drought tolerant open-pollinated variety widely used for commercial cultivation in several African countries. Others have been used as parental lines for commercial hybrids.

CIMMYT is pleased to announce the release of 22 new CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs). Developed through repeated cycles of selection and self-pollination of single plants, inbred lines are the building blocks of maize genetics and breeding. These lines can be crossed to produce high-yielding hybrids or open pollinated maize varieties. The lines were developed at various breeding locations of CIMMYT Global Maize Program by multi-disciplinary teams of scientists. These lines are adapted to tropical/subtropical maize production environments targeted by CIMMYT and the partner institutions. CMLs are freely available to both public and private sector breeders worldwide under CIMMYT’s standard material transfer agreement (SMTA).

Prior to their release, CMLs are intensively evaluated for per se performance (especially under abiotic and biotic stresses) and performance in hybrid combinations (combining ability). The descriptions accompanying the released lines include heterotic group classification and information on their specific combining ability with some widely-used CIMMYT lines. Instances where CMLs within a given heterotic group have good combining ability with other lines from the same heterotic group are also cited; the resulting hybrids may be useful either as single-cross products or as female parents of three-way or double-cross hybrids. Nine of the CMLs in the list have already proven their mettle as parental lines of commercial maize cultivars in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, CML541 and CM542 are among the constituent lines of ZM309, an improved, early-maturing, drought tolerant open-pollinated variety widely used for commercial cultivation in several African countries (see “ZM 309 gets presidential nod in Malawi”). Seven other CMLs (CML544 to CML548, CML558 and CML561) have been used as parental lines of commercial hybrids in sub-Saharan Africa. To obtain small amounts of seed of the newly released CMLs, send a request to the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank.