Effect of Boric Acid on In Vitro Pollen Germination in Transgenic Plants Expressing Monoclonal Antibodies

The effect of boric acid (0-450 ppm) and sucrose (0-40%) on pollen germination and pollen tube growth in Eucalyptus globulus, E. morrisbyi, E. ovata and E. tirnigera was examined in vitro. Over the con- centrations tested, sucrose had by far the largest effect upon both pollen germination and tube lengths. The optimum sucrose concentration for pollen germination (30%) and pollen tube growth (20%) differed markedly with very little (<lo%) germination occurring in the absence of sucrose. The interaction of sucrose and boric acid was significant. However, in general both pollen germination and pollen tube growth were increased by the addition of up to 100 ppm boric acid, but above this level the response plateauxed. The four species differed significantly in their pattern of response to both boric acid and sucrose and the predicted optima derived from analysis of response surfaces differed between species. The predicted sucrose concentration for optimal germination and growth of E. urnigera pollen was consistently less than the other species and in terms of the optimal level of boric acid for pollen tube growth species can be ranked in the order E. globulus > E. ovata > E. morrisbyi = E. urnigera. Pollen germination and tube growth of all four species on a medium comprising 20% sucrose and 200 ppm boric acid would not differ significantly from the observed maximum response of each species and this could suffice as a generalised medium. However, if only percentage germination is to be assessed 30% sucrose would be preferable. It is argued that subtle interspecific differences in optimal in vitro con- ditions for pollen germination and pollen tube growth are likely to reflect differences in pollen physiology which in vivo may have important implications for the success of hybridisation where pollen competition occurs.

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The effect of pollenizer on the fruit set of plum cultivar Cacanska Najbolja

Journal of Agricultural Sciences Belgrade ◽

10.2298/jas1201009n ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 9-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dragan Nikolic ◽

Vera Rakonjac ◽

Milica Fotiric-Aksic

Keyword(s):

Pollen Germination ◽

Fruit Set ◽

Open Pollination ◽

In Vitro Pollen Germination ◽

Controlled Pollination ◽

Very High

In this paper, during a 4-year period (2003-2006) effects of six pollenizers (President, Italian Prune, Stanley, Cacanska Rodna, Agen 707, and California Blue) on the degree of fruit set in the plum cultivar Cacanska Najbolja were examined. Besides the controlled pollination of this cultivar, open pollination was investigated. Functional pollen ability in pollenizer-cultivars was established by in vitro pollen germination. Degree of fruit set was determined comparing the number of fruit set (10 days after pollination, 21 days after pollination and number of harvested fruits) against the number of pollinated flowers. The results indicated that all pollenizer cultivars, studied in this paper, possessed satisfactory in vitro pollen germination (30.1-67.4%). The number of fruit set determined 10 days after pollination was very high and did not differ among pollenizers. Highly significant differences were found between the pollenizers in the number of fruit set 21 days after pollination and significant ones in relation to the number of harvested fruits. Compared to open pollination, higher number of fruit set 21 days after pollination and higher number of harvested fruits were obtained when cultivars Stanley (17.0%; 7.6%) and Italian Prune (14.6%; 6.9%) were used as pollenizers, therefore those cultivars are recommendable as good pollenizers for the cultivar Cacanska Najbolja.

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