ISHS Acta Horticulturae 272: Symposium on Bedding and Pot Plant Culture
POLLINATION, SEED SET AND POLLEN TUBE GROWTH INVESTIGATIONS IN VIOLA PEDATA L. |
| Authors: | W.A. Becker, Dr. L.C. Ewart |
| Abstract:
Plants of Viola pedata obtained from Michigan, Arkansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin, produced very low amounts of seed when grown in a greenhouse and self-pollinated. The objectives of these investigations were to determine the reason(s) for low self-seed set and to determine how seed set could be increased. Pollen viability measured by cotton blue staining, pollination and seed set studies, and pollen and pollen tube observations using fluorescence microscopy were employed. Cross-pollinations resulted in significantly greater quantities of seed then did self-pollinations, and many fewer pollen tubes gained entry to the ovaries in self-pollinated pistils compared to cross-pollinated pistils. These investigations indicate that a self-incompatibility system is operative in Viola pedata, that this is responsible for the low self-seed set values, and that cross-pollination can increase seed set. | |
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