Comparison of seed-derived with micropropagated male-sterile plants of Tagetes erecta L. for F1 hybrid seed production

Abstract

SummaryTo multiply large number of male-sterile marigold plants for F1 hybrid seed production, an efficient protocol for in vitro cloning of field-grown differentiated male sterile plants has been developed. A comparative field performance study of tissue culture and seed-derived male sterile plants of two marigold genotypes was undertaken to test the possibility of using micropropagated plants in hybrid seed production. Tissue culture raised plants of both genotypes had superior field performance to the seed-derived counterparts. These plants were more vigorous in growth, i.e. in terms of plant height, number of secondary branches and number of leaves and plant spread, while the leaf chlorophyll contents were equal to that of seedling plants. Flowering was earlier by 2-3 weeks and the number of flowers per plant was also higher in such plants. Repeated hand pollination of sterile flowers with bagged flowers of cv. Pusa Narangi Gainda showed that seed set and bold seed yield were higher or almost comparable with the seed-derived plants. The results clearly indicate that the tissue culture can be adopted for the successful cloning of male-sterile plants, which could then be utilized for producing F1 seeds with higher quantities of bold seeds with better storability.