In vitro germination and pollen tube growth of maize (Zea mays) pollen. II. Pollen source, calcium, and boron interactions

Abstract

Pollen grains from six single cross hybrids (Wf9 × H55, Wf9 × H50, H49 × H55, H49 × H50, Ky49 × Ky27, and K64 × K55) of Zea mays L. were cultured on an artificial medium containing 15% sucrose and 0.6% bacto-agar supplemented with all possible combinations of two levels (0.00 and 0.03%) of calcium nitrate (Ca) and two levels (0.00 and 0.01%) of boric acid (B). The effect of Ca and B on germination percentage was found to be dependent on the genetic source of the pollen. At the 0.00% levels of Ca and B, the germination percentage of the hybrids ranged from 26.6% for Ky49 × Ky27 to 58.1% for K64 × K55. With either Ky49 × Ky27 or K64 × K55 pollen, the addition of Ca and B to the medium resulted in a lower germination percentage whereas the addition of Ca and B increased the germination percentage of the other hybrids. The addition of B in the absence of Ca sharply reduced the germination percentage in all hybrids while in the presence of Ca, the effect of B varied with the hybrid involved. For pollen tube length, highly significant interactions between hybrids and levels of Ca and B were found. However, maximum pollen tube lengths were obtained for all hybrids with both Ca and B in the medium. The addition of B in the absence of Ca reduced the pollen tube length of all hybrids whereas the addition of B in the presence of Ca increased pollen tube length. In general, the addition of both Ca and B increased the rate of pollen tube growth especially in the period 2 to 3 hours after inoculation.