Genome induced mutation in Callistephus chinensis Ness. – evaluation of plant fertility and seed characteristics
Thousand seed weight (TSW, g), achene size (mm) and fertility were evaluated in polyploid plants of C<sub>0</sub> (1999) and C<sub>1</sub> (2000) generations. The fertility of polyploid plants was usually very low (more than 10× compared to diploid plants). Only one plant (genotype A (tm) 1) was found as a tetraploid individual with anomalously high fertility, high TSW and large size of achenes. TSW in polyploid plants was 2.6–4.13 g, in diploid plants 2.0–2.3 g. The achene size was mostly about 3.7 mm (diploid plants) and 4.0–4.8 mm (polyploid plants). Achene (seed) size and thousand seed weight (TSW) can be classified among indirect identification methods (size of stomata, number of chloroplasts in guard cells, etc.) of polyploid plants.