Morphological and anatomical studies of pollen in peaches

Abstract

Analysis of the morphology and ultrastructure of pollen grains using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)has shown to be an effective method for identifying related genotypes of peach. The micromorphology of pollengrains of 15 peach genotypes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was studied. The anther colour ofthe accessions examined differed considerably, varying from red (11 Nos), dark red (Selection-12),creamishwhite (Sharbati Late), purple (Selection-1) and yellow (Selection-2) in colour. All the accessions and cultivarsstudied showed tricolporated pollens. Pant Peach-1 had the longest pollen (48.68 μm), and Sharbati Late hadthe shortest pollens (34.44 μm). The highest pollen width was noticed in IC-360680 (38.64 μm) and minimumin Sharbati Late (24.94 μm). All the peach cultivars displayed striate and tectum perforatum ornamentationregarding the surface features. Striae width ranged between 0.25 μm (Pratap) to 0.55 μm (IC-360680), while thehighest groove width was noted in Pant Peach-1 (0.60 μm) and mi nimum in Selection-2 (0.19 μm).