_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: ekhlaque.bau@gmail.com; International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 34(23): 1437-1442, 2022; Article no.IJPSS.93523 ISSN: 2320-7035 Cytological Study of Anthers for Pollen Sterility in the F 7 Generation of a Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Cross Priyanka Kumari a , Jenny Priya Ekka a , Krishna Prasad a , Ekhlaque Ahmad a* and Manigopa Chakraborty a a Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi-834006, Jharkhand, India. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/IJPSS/2022/v34i232560 Open Peer Review History: This journal follows the Advanced Open Peer Review policy. Identity of the Reviewers, Editor(s) and additional Reviewers, peer review comments, different versions of the manuscript, comments of the editors, etc are available here: https://www.sdiarticle5.com/review-history/93523 Received 15 September 2022 Accepted 21 November 2022 Published 26 November 2022 ABSTRACT The present research work was proficiently done at the experimental plot of Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke under the rainfed conditions of Jharkhand, India during kharif 2021. The F 7 generation seeds of the cross Pusa-1176 x BPT-5204 was sown as panicle to progeny rows in the seed bed nursery and thereafter transplanted into the field. In this investigation, the study has been oriented more towards the male sterility as it is more sensitive than female gametes based on the observation recorded in previous generation (F 6 ) regarding spikelet sterility percentage. Henceforth, the study has been focussed on the microscopic study of pollen grains to validate the reason behind the cause of spikelet sterility in the panicles. To understand this phenomenon, pollen viability test was done by staining the anthers with 1% Iodine- potassium iodide in order to know the extent of fertility or sterility present in the pollen grains of the rice segregants. Through microscopic study, segregation was observed in the pollen sterility % among the families studied which might be due to the change in the environmental conditions such as temperature, photoperiod and humidity etc. The expected genetic ratio obtained was 9:3:3:1(partially sterile+highly fertile/completely fertile/ highly sterile/completely sterile) revealing that it is controlled by 2 genes since the ratio fitted in digenic ratio. Keywords: Sterility; chi-square; pollen viability; staining; fixatives. Original Research Article