Effect of Pollen Selection for Moisture Stress Tolerance in Maize ilea mays L.)

摘要

In the present investigation the effect of pollen selection for moisture stress tolerance in F_1 generation on physiological traits and pollen number were studied. The susceptible inbred line BTM1 was crossed to drought tolerant inbred line BTM2 to produce F_1 seeds. One set of true F_1 plants were grown in pots without any stress and selfed to produce control F_2 population (CF_2). Another set was grown in pots and subjected to moisture stress during reproductive stage (40-50th days after sowing). The stigma of the stressed plants were painted with 50 per cent polyethylene glycol (PEG) one hour before selfing producing F_2 seeds labelled as pollen selection in stressed plant F2 (PSSPF2). These two F_2 populations were evaluated under moisture stress condition in the field where in physiological traits (relative water content and chlorophyll content) and number of pollen grains per anther was recorded. The PSSPF_2 showed higher values for relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll content and numberof pollen grains per anther compared to CF_2 under moisture stress condition. Thus results indicate that pollen selection has improved sporophytic physiological traits like RWC, chlorophyll content and number of pollen grains per anther when grown undermoisture stress condition in the field.