Articles
Research on microsporogenesis and floral biology in some descendants of the ‘Tuleu gras’ cultivar
Article number
1450_36
Pages
277 – 282
Language
English
Abstract
The plum cultivar ‘Tuleu gras’ belongs to the Prunus domestica L. species and it represents a basic cultivar in the plum germplasm from Romania.
This cultivar is male sterile, sterility due to irregularities during microsporogenesis which promote malformations of male gametes and, finally, the lack of pollen.
The ‘Tuleu gras’ cultivar presents high quality fruits and therefore it was widely used as a mother genitor in the breeding programs, obtaining 21 new cultivars.
Among them, six cultivars (‘Carpatin’, ‘Centenar’, ‘Piteștean’, ‘Roman’, ‘Tita’ and ‘Tuleu timpuriu’) were studied regarding the meiotic divisions, the floral biology, phenology and their behaviour in the pollination process.
It has been concluded that all six cultivars studied are male sterile as well as the mother genitor.
The male sterility of these cultivars is observed from the tetrad stage and is due to the lack of the tapetal cells degeneration.
The flowers are small (from 17.40 mm for ‘Tuleu timpuriu’ to 20.73 mm for ‘Roman’), with anthers yellow-green, atrophied without pollen and with long pistil (from 9.13 mm for ‘Tuleu gras’ to 13.30 mm for ‘Centenar’), which is an advantage for cross pollination.
Regarding the flowering phenology, it was observed that the 6 cultivars bloom 1-2 days earlier than ‘Tuleu gras’. Because these cultivars are sterile they need pollinators and that is why the effect of some cultivars known as good pollinators (‘Stanley’, ‘Anna Spath’, ‘Early Rivers’) has been tested.
These pollinators had a positive influence ensuring high percentages of fruits set (more than 15%).
This cultivar is male sterile, sterility due to irregularities during microsporogenesis which promote malformations of male gametes and, finally, the lack of pollen.
The ‘Tuleu gras’ cultivar presents high quality fruits and therefore it was widely used as a mother genitor in the breeding programs, obtaining 21 new cultivars.
Among them, six cultivars (‘Carpatin’, ‘Centenar’, ‘Piteștean’, ‘Roman’, ‘Tita’ and ‘Tuleu timpuriu’) were studied regarding the meiotic divisions, the floral biology, phenology and their behaviour in the pollination process.
It has been concluded that all six cultivars studied are male sterile as well as the mother genitor.
The male sterility of these cultivars is observed from the tetrad stage and is due to the lack of the tapetal cells degeneration.
The flowers are small (from 17.40 mm for ‘Tuleu timpuriu’ to 20.73 mm for ‘Roman’), with anthers yellow-green, atrophied without pollen and with long pistil (from 9.13 mm for ‘Tuleu gras’ to 13.30 mm for ‘Centenar’), which is an advantage for cross pollination.
Regarding the flowering phenology, it was observed that the 6 cultivars bloom 1-2 days earlier than ‘Tuleu gras’. Because these cultivars are sterile they need pollinators and that is why the effect of some cultivars known as good pollinators (‘Stanley’, ‘Anna Spath’, ‘Early Rivers’) has been tested.
These pollinators had a positive influence ensuring high percentages of fruits set (more than 15%).
Publication
Authors
M. Butac, M. Militaru
Keywords
plum, meiotic process, male sterility, phenology, pollination process
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