Comparative pollination efficiency of freshly harvested pollen of Imperata cylindrica and Zea mays for haploid induction in bread wheat

摘要

Pollen viability is among the critical factors, which determine the success of a doubled haploidy breeding programme, thus the present investigation was undertaken to assess the functional viability and relative longevity of the pollen from Zea mays and Imperata cylindrica for the chromosome elimination mediated approach of doubled haploidy breeding. Two wheat genotypes representing spring and winter ecotypes, namely DH 40 and Saptdhara were pollinated with freshly harvested pollen of two known potential haploid inducing sources, namely Z. mays (grown in polyhouse conditions) and I. cylindrica (wild grass) for 15 and 17 days, respectively, keeping five minutes interval between two subsequent pollinations. The results revealed a significant decrease in the viability of Z. mays pollen up to 95 percent in Saptdhara and 85 percent in DH 40 within one hour, whereas Imperata pollen was found to be functionally viable even at the end of experimentation period, showing high embryo formation in both the wheat parents. I. cylindrica exhibited higher frequencies for haploid induction parameters in both the wheat parents as compared to Z. mays. I. cylindrica pollen, being viable for relatively longer periods than Z. mays can hasten the haploid induction endeavours, thus may be a more efficient alternative to Z. mays for breeding programmes using doubled haploidy technique.ud