A field experiment was carried out in Bakura and Zaria in the sudan savanna agro-ecological zone to study downy mildew resistance and yield in some pearl millet varieties and their hybreds using Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD). Four resistant varieties (PEO5532, SOSATC88, P1449 and DMR15) and four susceptible varieties (BDP1, MOP1, LCIC9702 and PEO5984 were used as male and female respectively. Crosses were made using North Carolina design II. Sixteen (F1) hybrids obtained were evaluated along with their parents for downy mildew incidence, severity and grain yield. Combining ability revealed that, majority of the characters are under the control of non-additive gene action. Combinations were obtained from parents with the following general combining ability (i e, High x High, High x Low, Low x High and Low x Low parents). Among the resistant parents, PEO5532, P1449 and DMR15 were excellent general combiners for downy mildew incidence, severity and yield. The cross MOP1 x SOSATC88 was the best specific combiner for grain yield while the best specific combiner for Downy mildew incidence was MOP1 x P1449 and for downy mildew severity were BDP1× DMR15 and PEO5984× P1449 while BDP1 x SOSATC88, LCIC9702 × DMR15 and PEO5984 ×SOSATC88 have the best specific combine ability for yield and downy mildew severity respectively. The crosses with best specific combine ability for downy mildew incidence and downy mildew severity were MOP1 x PEO5532 and PEO5984 × PEO5532. Crosses BDP1 x SOSATC88, LCIC9702 × DMR15 and PEO5984 ×SOSATC88 were recommended as the good specific combiners for yield and downy mildew severity respectively.
