Abstract
Teak has become one of the most widely planted species in tropical regions of the world, given its high price for its timber in international markets. This has motivated the development of tree improvement programs in the Latin American region and in the tropical world in general. The latest advances have achieved clonal forestry at an operational scale. Recently, important efforts are being made to advance towards the next breeding generation, since knowledge about floral biology and pollen management have become important issues. A breeding program is being developed through the Tree Improvement Cooperative GENFORES—a vinculation model between the academy and forestry companies that was initiated in Costa Rica and now involves six Latin American countries. In order to advance into the next breeding generations, building capacities in topics such as pollen banks requires pollen quality, thus enabling the exchange of pollen among cooperative members. Pollen fertility studies are of considerable value in breeding programs, in order to determine pollen viability and germination in collections of genotypes, before going into mating operational activities. In this study, we optimized pollen quality analysis protocols in terms of the viability and germination of fresh teak pollen. Results of this research show that 90% viability and 28% germination can be achieved in fresh pollen grains, both inside and outside the anther, previously dehydrated in silica gel for 2 to 4 h (40% and 33% humidity, respectively). Brewbacker and Kwack (BK) medium at 10% of its salts + 10% sucrose and at a pH of 7 must be used as the germination medium. It is possible to evaluate teak pollen quality using the parameters defined in this study, which will in turn allow pollen management and purification, providing an opportunity for carrying out controlled crosses at an operational scale as part of teak breeding programs.
Highlights
Teak (Tectona grandis L. f.) is a tree native to Southeast Asia and can reach 45 to 50 m in height and 2 to 2.5 m in diameter at breast height (DBH) in its place of origin
When we evaluated the effect of dehydration on the viability of fresh teak pollen, a statistically significant difference was found between the treatments analyzed both inside (p ≤ 0.001) and outside the anther (p ≤ 0.006) (Table 2)
On the other hand, when we evaluated the effect of dehydration on in vitro germination of fresh teak pollen, both inside and outside the anther, a statistically significant difference was found between dehydration periods (0, 2, 4, and 6 h)—both for the pollen analyzed inside and for the pollen that was extracted from the anther (p ≤ 0.001)
Summary
Teak (Tectona grandis L. f.) is a tree native to Southeast Asia and can reach 45 to 50 m in height and 2 to 2.5 m in diameter at breast height (DBH) in its place of origin. Forests 2019, 10, 908 resistance, workability and aesthetic qualities, teak is considered to be one of the most valuable woods for furniture, shipbuilding, docks or piers, freshwater bridges and floodgates, railway ties, parquet floors, poles for electric transmission lines, and fences, as well as for musical instruments and toys [1,2]. The great economic importance that teak currently has due to its wood value has stimulated the development of breeding programs. The increased growth and timber yield of teak became the essential goals of breeding programs around the world [3]. There is currently great interest in achieving progress towards the second generation of breeding teak, which requires the development of controlled pollination techniques and pollen management capacity in general [3,5]. There is an urgent need to make progress in the genetic improvement of Teak
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