SEXUAL POLYPLOIDIZATION OF JAPANESE PERSIMMON BY UTILIZING UNREDUCED EGG

We analyzed the ploidy levels of seedlings of several Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki) cultivars to investigate the possible occurrence of unreduced eggs in this fruit species.
Among the five cultivars tested, ‘Fujiwaragosho’ produced seedlings whose ploidy levels were more than hexaploid, mainly nonaploid or dodecaploid, at a very high frequency.
Since these seedlings were obtained from the seeds that developed normally and contained fully-developed endosperm, it is suggested that unreduced embryo sac may have not been involved in the occurrence of seedlings with ploidy variation observed in this study.
If unreduced embryo sac had formed and fertilized with reduced pollen, abnormal endosperm development could have been observed.
The ploidy variation in seedlings of ‘Fujiwaragosho’ could have been induced by abnormal embryo sac formation or abnormal embryo development that occurred during embryo sac formation or early embryo development, respectively.
The possible use of ‘Fujiwaragosho’ as a mother plant for sexual polyploidization breeding in persimmon was discussed.

International Symposium on Biotechnology of Temperate Fruit Crops and Tropical Species

A. Yamada, R. Tao

unreduced gamete, ploidy breeding, embryo culture, flow cytometry, kaki

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.738.49