Vol. 82 No: 3

Title:
Morphology and anatomy of pollen grains from male-fertile and male-sterile cultivars of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.)

Authors:
C. MERT and A. SOYLU

pp: 474-480

Abstract:
Pollen morphology and ultrastructure are described for four male-fertile cultivars (´Firdola`, ´Karamehmet`, ´Sarıaşlama`, and ´Hacıömer`) and two male-sterile cultivars (´Osmanoğlu` and ´Vakit Kestanesi`) of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) using light microscopy and both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Pollen grains of both male-fertile and male-sterile chestnut cultivars are tricolporate, the germinal furrow extending almost the full length of the grain axis. Pollen grains have a slightly reticulate exine. Pollen grain length varied from 13.33 - 21.30 μm, and decreased significantly in the male-sterile cultivars. Three different pollen shapes were observed among the cultivars: prolate, perprolate, and sub-prolate. The ultrastructure of the pollen grains did not differ between malefertile and male-sterile cultivars. Intine, exine and total wall thickness (exine + intine) of pollen grains were determined as: 83.2 - 153.1 nm, 432.8 - 520.0 nm, and 516.0 - 651.6 nm, respectively; and variations were significant (P ≤ 0.05) among cultivars. The percentages of in vitro germination of pollen grains of male-fertile cultivars were between 11 - 78%, and the variations among cultivars were significant (P ≤ 0.05). The percentages of empty pollen grains observed among cultivars ranged from 3 - 32%.The correlation coefficient between the percentage of normal pollen and the germination rate was r = 0.898 (P ≤ 0.01).

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