Fertility Improvement in Autotetraploids of Pea — Selection for Seed‐Set and Disjunction Index

Abstract

AbstractFour seed‐set groups of plants, viz. unselected ‘general’ and selected ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’ were constituted in C1 generation from randomly selected autotetraploids of two pea cultivars, T 163 and 5064‐S. In C2 generation, ten plants were selected at random in each of the four groups. Two seeds each from selected autotetraploids were drawn and bulked to make 20 seeds in each of the four groups to raise C3 generation. Selection resulted in a gradual shift in seed‐set, though the magnitude and nature varied with the group and generation. Improvement in the seed‐set from C1 to C3 generation was associated with the increase in bivalents per cell, disjunction index and total chiasmata. Increase in total chiasmata was mostly due to an increase in proximal ones. Increase in seed‐set was reflected in improvement of grain yield per plant.