specific hybrid seeds. In the month of September when flowering had occurred in the pearl millet, the panicles were protected with shoot bags to prevent pollination from adjourning plots. The elephant grass panicles were also bagged at the onset of anther emergence with shoot bags with the open end clipped for pollen collection. The collected pollen from the bagged elephant grass selections were dusted on previously protected pearl millet panicles with fully emerged stigmas just before anther emergence. This took place between 9 and 11 am daily, a time when pollen viability is high (Rai, 1997). The pollinated pearl millet plants were re-bagged and the open end of the bags clipped. On the outside, the bags were appropriately marked according to the parent plants crossed and the date of pollination. Harvesting of the panicles followed four weeks later and they were threshed manually to extract the seeds. The seeds were then cleaned of glumes in a tray (sieve) and transferred to seed packets that were appropriately labelled.