Correlative vital staining and in vitro pollen germination of plumeria
2013
Perez, K. | Criley, R.A.
Plumeria cultivars are important to Hawaiian floriculture and landscape industries, but many are susceptible to Plumeria Leaf Rust Disease. Current control methods are laborious, costly, and infeasible in non-commercial production settings. Hence, a more suitable method of controlling this disease would be to breed for rust resistance by hybridizing rust-resistant Plumeria species with existing Plumeria cultivars. To ensure fertility of pollen donors, information on the pollen viability of potential parents must be gathered prior to establishing a breeding program. In vitro pollen germination and vital staining are two rapid assessment measures of pollen viability. Thus, the objectives of this experiment focused on (1) optimizing in vitro conditions by testing the effects of sucrose, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and pH concentrations on pollen germination and tube growth, and (2) identifying a vital staining method that correlates with in vitro pollen germination using fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and acetocarmine (AC). Pollen germinated (19.4-25.2%) and grew pollen tubes satisfactorily (175.8-547.8 µm) within the range of 10-15% sucrose, whereas with the addition of 2.5-5.0% PEG, pollen germinated, but tube growth was distorted for most genotypes. Higher pollen germination and longer tubes were obtained in the range of pH 4.2-6.0, but responses were genotype-dependent. The variability of optimal in vitro conditions suggests that sucrose and pH need to be adjusted for each Plumeria genotype. FDA staining was highly correlated with in vitro germination and can be used in future assessments of Plumeria pollen viability.
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