Abstract
ABSTRACT Parental plants, an F1 interspecific hybrid and the F2 generation from Arabusta coffee plants were investigated for meiotic behavior and viability of pollen to understand part of their reproductive biology that affects their possible use in coffee breeding programs. Both parental plants (C. canephora var. Robusta 4x and C. arabica var. dihaploid Bourbon Vermelho) showed a meiosis diploid-like behavior, despite presenting a small percentage of irregularities, just as occurred for the F1 Arabusta hybrid. On the other hand, all F2 plants showeda higher frequency of anomalies that compromised pollen viability. The highest meiotic indices were registered for three analyzed plants of the F2 generation, and the pollen viability tests revealed the highest values for staining (PVS) and germination in vitro tests (PVG) for three others different F2 plants. The meiotic analysis and pollen viability tests may facilitate the selection of the best genetic resources, reducing the time needed for producing new hybrid cultivars. F2 plants which have high meiotic indices and/or high pollen fertility could be used as pollen donors in crossbreeding programs when there is interest in their functional or morphological characteristics. In contrast, the F2 plants that showed low pollen viability could be exploited as sterile male plants or discarded from a breeding program.
Highlights
The meiotic process is highly conserved in eukaryotes and plays a central role in the life cycle of all organisms with sexual reproduction because it maintains the chromosome number of the species and generates variability by genetic and chromosomal recombination
As these plants may be useful in coffee breeding programs aiming for the introgression of new genes, in this study a sample of Arabusta F2 plants was investigated along with the two parents and their interspecific hybrid (F1) for meiotic behavior and the viability of pollen to understand the part of their reproductive biology that affects the fertility of the plant to determine its possible use in breeding programs for coffee improvement
A high meiotic irregularities index has been recorded in the 30 F2 plants analyzed
Summary
The meiotic process is highly conserved in eukaryotes and plays a central role in the life cycle of all organisms with sexual reproduction because it maintains the chromosome number of the species and generates variability by genetic and chromosomal recombination. The F2 Arabusta plants used in this study have very different morphological characteristics, as well as different levels of fruit production and have never had their meiotic behavior evaluated before. As these plants may be useful in coffee breeding programs aiming for the introgression of new genes, in this study a sample of Arabusta F2 plants was investigated along with the two parents and their interspecific hybrid (F1) for meiotic behavior and the viability of pollen to understand the part of their reproductive biology that affects the fertility of the plant to determine its possible use in breeding programs for coffee improvement
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