A quantitative and structural comparison of Citrus pollen tube development in cross-compatible and self-incompatible gynoecia

Abstract

Pollen tube development in Orlando tangelo (Citrus paradisi Macf. × C. reticulata Blanco.) was compared within and between cross-compatible pollinations of Orlando pollen on Dancy tangerine (C. reticulata Blanco.) stigmas and self-incompatible pollinations on Orlando tangelo stigmas. Orlando and Dancy gynoecia were morphologically similar but differed slightly in stigma, style, and ovary lengths. Orlando pollen tube development was studied 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days after both cross- and self-pollination to record the number of pollen tubes at each of five levels: stigma surface, upper style, lower style, ovary, and entrance into ovules. In the incompatible cross (self-pollinated Orlando), the stigma was the primary region of pollen tube arrest. In the compatible cross (Orlando pollen on Dancy), some pollen tubes penetrated ovules between 9 and 12 days after cross pollination; however, other pollen tubes were arrested in the stigma. Pollen tubes that successfully penetrated ovules in the compatible cross differed morphologically from pollen tubes arrested in both the compatible and incompatible situations. Successful compatible pollen tubes were straight with thin-walled tips and regularly spaced callose plugs behind the growing tips. Many pollen tube abnormalities associated with the self-incompatible pollination of Orlando were also present among arrested pollen tubes from the compatible cross.