ANNOUNCEMENT OF 28 NEW CIMMYT MAIZE INBRED LINES 

March, 2009

Dear Cooperator:

CIMMYT has periodically announced CIMMYT maize lines (CMLs). CMLs are carefully selected inbred lines with good general combining ability and a significant number of value-adding traits such as drought tolerance, N use efficiency, acid soil tolerance, and resistance to disease and insect pests. In many instances, they are parental lines of hybrids which have proven successful in one or several maize mega-environments.

Since 1991, 511 CMLs have been announced and made available to partners to develop hybrids, vigorous and productive inbred progenitors, and high-performance synthetics, particularly targeted at developing countries.

Important attributes of the new CMLs (CML512 to CML539)  are detailed in Table 1. CMLs533-535 are yellow grained. All the other CMLs are white grained.

CMLs512-523 have a specific geographic focus and use. They are BC3-conversions of existing CML lines, adapted to eastern and southern Africa, and contain a natural form of herbicide resistance against Imidazolinone, originally found in a mutant. When used in combination with Imidazolinone herbicide seed coating, hybrids and synthetics from these CMLs can be grown in Striga infested areas. These CMLs are only available for use in sub-Saharan Africa. The main contact is John MacRobert (j.macrobert@cgiar.org) and distribution is from CIMMYT-Zimbabwe.

CMLs524-529 are QPM conversions of highland CMLs and oriented towards areas above 1,800 masl. The main contact is Dr. Kevin Pixley (k.pixley@cgiar.org) and distribution is from CIMMYT-Mexico.

CMLs530-535 are six new acid soil tolerant inbreds from our South America Regional Program. The main contact is Dr. Luis Narro (l.narro@cgiar.org) and distribution is from CIMMYT-Colombia.

CMLs536-539 are drought and low N tolerant inbreds with adaptation to sub-Sahara Africa. The main contact is Dr. Cosmos Magorokosho (c.magorokosho@cgiar.org) and distribution is from CIMMYT-Zimbabwe.

Partners interested in receiving seed of these and other CMLs need to send an import permit and provide a physical address for shipment. In most instances we ship samples of no more than 50 seeds per inbred, assuming that collaborators will further increase the seed. All seed shipments are subject to acceptance of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement, in observance of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. For further information, please visit our web page www.cimmyt.org.   

Yours sincerely,

Marianne Bänziger

Director

Global Maize Program

We are pleased to announce 14 new elite inbred lines (CML 498 – 511) that have been developed by the scientists of our program. Six of the new lines are adapted to lowland tropical environments (Table 1) and eight are adapted to midaltitude environments of eastern and southern Africa (Table 2). Three of the lines are quality protein maize (QPM), containing high levels of tryptophan and lysine; one of these, CML 511, is the first maize streak virus resistant QPM line announced as CML, while CML503 is a QPM version (conversion) of the highly successful CML264. Important attributes of the 14 new CMLs are detailed in Tables 1 and 2, including information on combining ability and recommended heterotic partners.

Table 1. Six lowland tropical late / intermediate maturity white (five) and
yellow-grained (one) lines (CML 498 – CML 503)

Table 2. Eight mid-altitude tropical early / intermediate maturity white
endosperm lines (CML 504 – CML 511)

All of these lines have a high level of inbreeding and have resulted from selfing in populations under recurrent selection and through pedigree breeding. We suggest that you go through the information provided in the tables and request seed for lines that are of interest to you. We will be happy to provide you with 50 kernel samples of the lines on request.

Breeders are free to use these lines for research purposes. Should any cooperator desire to obtain any form of intellectual property protection on inbred lines supplied by CIMMYT, written permission must be obtained from us beforehand.

CIMMYT reserves the right to decline permission for any form of intellectual property protection by any party on these germplasm if such an action will impede our efforts to serve the world’s resource poor. It is understood that cooperators requesting and receiving seed of these or other CIMMYT lines accept the terms and conditions mentioned in CIMMYT’s Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) that accompanies the germplasm and may be found at our website: http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/obtain_seed/smta/SMTAEnglish.pdf

We request you to keep us informed as to the usefulness of these lines in your breeding program and provide us information on the performance of these inbred lines in your environment.

We hope that these new CMLs will assist you in developing new and improved maize germplasm, which will make an impact in farmers’ fields.

Yours sincerely,

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