Articles containing the keyword 'viability'

Germination of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) pollen decreased during exposure to open air conditions. Usually more than half of the pollen remained germinative after a few days outdoors, but following more than four days outdoors the germination became very low. This study supports the opinion that pollen in the atmosphere remains viable long enough to allow for long-distance gene flow by pollen migration, as an important factor in genetic management of conifers and in evolution, maintaining diversity and potential for adaptation.

• Lindgren, E-mail: kl@mm.unknown
• Lindgren, E-mail: dl@mm.unknown

The aim of the study was to establish how the cold storage of cones of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) affects the viability of the seeds and the percentage ratio in 7 days. A parallel study was made of the longevity of seed in barn-stored cones subject to weather fluctuations and the longevity of seed extracted immediately and stored in the conventional way in an air-tight container. The cones were collected near Kuopio in Central Finland and near Tampere.

The viability and germination rate of the control sample was constant throughout the storage period. This storage method proved the best. The viability of seeds kept in cones declined in cold storage after 3 ½ months. The cones collected in Tampere were damaged by Laspeyresia strobilella, which affected the viability of the seeds.

The viability of seeds stored in cones in a barn had not weakened by the end of May, however, they deteriorated during the summer, as did the seeds stored in cones in the cold storage. Viability of the seeds was still 94% in October. The germination rate was constant in each lot up to the end of May, after which it decreased to 81.7–86.1% in October.

The results show that healthy spruce cones can be stored in paper sacks in a single layer in cold storage and in an ordinary barn for several months without it affecting the viability of the seeds.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Solin, E-mail: ps@mm.unknown

Colchicine is widely used as a mutagen to induce production of diploid gametes in plants. However, whether colchicine affects induced pollen viability remains unclear. To clarify whether colchicine affected the viability of induced pollen, we induced production of diploid pollen by colchicine, followed by pollen germination in vitro and crossing induced pollen with normal gametes to produce triploid in Populus tomentosa Carrière. The results showed that the predominant meiotic stages and the number of colchicine injections had significant effects on the occurrence rates of induced 2n pollen. When the colchicine injection was given at diakinesis, a significant decrease in the pollen production per bud was observed (p < 0.001). The morphology of the colchicine-induced 2n pollen was similar to that of the natural 2n pollen in its ectexine structure. The pollen germination experiments revealed that there was also no significant difference in germination rates between the induced diploid pollen and natural 2n pollen grains, and 68 triploids were created by crossing colchicine-induced pollen. Our findings revealed that colchicine injection could induce P. tomentosa to produce 2n pollen and will not lead to dysfunction of induced diploid pollen.

• Liu, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China E-mail: 342767649@qq.com
• Zhang, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China E-mail: 409192881@qq.com
• Zhou, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China E-mail: 876034493@qq.com
• Wu, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China E-mail: 1269485709@qq.com
• Zhang, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China E-mail: zhangpd@bjfu.edu.cn

• Chaitanya, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Seed Biology Lab, School of Life Sciences, Raipur – 492 010 (M.P.), India E-mail: kskc@nn.in
• Keshavkant, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Seed Biology Lab, School of Life Sciences, Raipur – 492 010 (M.P.), India E-mail: sk@n.in
• Naithani, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Seed Biology Lab, School of Life Sciences, Raipur – 492 010 (M.P.), India E-mail: naithani@mantraonline.com