Intraspecific Variation in Mean Endosperm Cell Cycle Time inVicia faba(L.) and Interspecific Hybridization withVicia narbonensis(L.)

摘要

AbstractThe rate of early embryo‐sac development was studied in seven faba bean (Vicia fabaL.) cultivars grown in a controlled environment. The embryo‐sac stage was determined from the number of endosperm nuclei per embryo‐sac and the number of embryo cells during the first 12 days after pollination. Differences in early embryo‐sac development were observed between the genotypes studied.In addition, five differentV. faba×V. narbonensiscrosses and reciprocals were made using genotypes with small differences in mean endosperm cell cycle time and genotypes with large differences. The percentage of success (pod set) inV. faba×V. narbonensiscrosses ranged between 9 and 59 while in the reciprocals it ranged from 12 up to 30 . However, cytological studies showed that the high percentage of success (pod set) observed in the cross A‐107 × A‐202 was not associated with a higher percentage of interspecific hybrid embryos.The results indicate that genotypes of the two species with smaller differences in mean endosperm cell cycle time result neither in a higher percentage pod set nor in bigger