Crossing technique without emasculation in chickpea.

摘要

A study was conducted to investigate the possibility of artificially crossing chickpea without removing the anthers. Two cultivars with contrasting flower colours were used: L 550 (white flowers; used as the female) and K 850 (pink flowers; used asthe male). Flower colour was used as an indicator to determine the extent of self pollination in crosses affected without emasculation. Upon observation of F1 generation plants for flower colour, results revealed that 14% of the F1 plants had white flowers indicating that 14% of the flowers were self pollinated during hybridization. Results suggest that when hybridization without emasculation is attempted, there is some chance of self pollination. Hence, this technique should only be used when parents are chosen based on marker genes which could be used to eliminate self pollinated progenies in the F1 generation. Monogenic traits with complete or incomplete dominance could be used as markers to identify selfs. The reduced damage to flowers and the reduced time taken when flowers are not emasculated while making crosses could result in more flowers setting seed for the same amount of effort even when some selfed plants are discambled.