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Improved breeding and seed systems are vital to increase productivity. We describe a hybrid seed production technology that will benefit seed companies and farmers. This technology improves efficiency and integrity of seed production by removing the need for detasseling. The resulting hybrids segregate 1:1 for pollen production, conserving resources for grain production and conferring a 200\u2009kg\u2009ha\n                    <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                    benefit across a range of yield levels. This represents a 10% increase for farmers operating at national average yield levels in sub-Saharan Africa. The yield benefit provided by fifty-percent non-pollen producing hybrids is the first example of a single gene technology in maize conferring a yield increase of this magnitude under low-input smallholder farmer conditions and across an array of hybrid backgrounds. Benefits to seed companies will provide incentives to improve smallholder farmer access to higher quality seed. Demonstrated farmer preference for these hybrids will help drive their adoption.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s42003-022-03680-7","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,22]],"date-time":"2022-07-22T06:02:45Z","timestamp":1658469765000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Incorporating male sterility increases hybrid maize yield in low input African farming systems"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2947-300X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah","family":"Collinson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6929-0083","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esnath","family":"Hamdziripi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5081-0189","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hugo","family":"De Groote","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6751-8259","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Ndegwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2735-3485","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jill E.","family":"Cairns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3058-2366","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marc","family":"Albertsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dickson","family":"Ligeyo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kingstone","family":"Mashingaidze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8818-6238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael S.","family":"Olsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"3680_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agsy.2018.01.019","volume":"172","author":"J Hansen","year":"2019","unstructured":"Hansen, J. et al. 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S.C. and M.A. are employees of Corteva Agriscience. Corteva Agriscience owns the rights to the technology. There is no competing interests as Corteva Agriscience is providing the technology royalty-free to licensed seed companies producing seed for smallholders in the region under the terms of the Seed Production Technology for Africa agreement (\n                      \n                      ).","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"729"}}