Articles
CALIBRACHOA POLLEN VIABILITY OVER TIME AT VARYING STORAGE TEMPERATURES
Article number
1000_62
Pages
445 – 450
Language
English
Abstract
Pollen storage strategies are desirable in several crop species for different purposes. Calibrachoa La Llave & Lexarza (Solanaceae) is a South American genus (Stehmann and Semir, 2005) having a high ornamental value resulting in the introduction of many successful commercial varieties for pot and landscaping use.
The Institute of Floriculture INTA Castelar (IF) has initiated a Calibrachoa breeding program to obtain compact varieties, with no pruning or plant growth regulator requirements.
The ability to store Calibrachoa pollen and maintain viability over extended periods of time offers flexibility to plant breeders to use stored pollen to use in hybridization without parents flowering synchronously.
There are no records about the long-term storage of Calibrachoa pollen.
The objective of this study was to know the long-term pollen storage of C. humilis, C. caesia and C. ovalifolia pollen which are the most important species in the breeding program of the IF. For this purpose, pollen grains were dried and placed at different storage duration for two (2M), six (6M) and eight (8M) months.
A hanging drop pollen germination assay was used to determine the percentage of pollen germination (% PG). The studies allowed detecting a marked decrease in pollen viability after 2M storage in all the treatments for all species.
During this time, the decrease in germination percentage in C. caesia, C. humilis, and C. ovalifolia ranged between 23.9 and 38.84%. The percentages of viability at 8M storage were below 10%. Although after two months of storage there were pollen viability percentages of 50% in the three analyzed species, none of the treatments tested showed better performance than the others.
The results suggest that the Calibrachoa species have a medium-lived pollen longevity (approximately 1-3 months).
The Institute of Floriculture INTA Castelar (IF) has initiated a Calibrachoa breeding program to obtain compact varieties, with no pruning or plant growth regulator requirements.
The ability to store Calibrachoa pollen and maintain viability over extended periods of time offers flexibility to plant breeders to use stored pollen to use in hybridization without parents flowering synchronously.
There are no records about the long-term storage of Calibrachoa pollen.
The objective of this study was to know the long-term pollen storage of C. humilis, C. caesia and C. ovalifolia pollen which are the most important species in the breeding program of the IF. For this purpose, pollen grains were dried and placed at different storage duration for two (2M), six (6M) and eight (8M) months.
A hanging drop pollen germination assay was used to determine the percentage of pollen germination (% PG). The studies allowed detecting a marked decrease in pollen viability after 2M storage in all the treatments for all species.
During this time, the decrease in germination percentage in C. caesia, C. humilis, and C. ovalifolia ranged between 23.9 and 38.84%. The percentages of viability at 8M storage were below 10%. Although after two months of storage there were pollen viability percentages of 50% in the three analyzed species, none of the treatments tested showed better performance than the others.
The results suggest that the Calibrachoa species have a medium-lived pollen longevity (approximately 1-3 months).
Authors
S. Cardone, L. Bernardo, G. Facciuto, A. Coviella , M.S. Soto
Keywords
medium-lived pollen longevity, pollen conservation, Solanaceae
Online Articles (83)