Comparative pollen grain size in the tribe Maydeae
--T. M. Shivakumar, Rajesh Kumar and J. K. S. Sachan

The pollen grains of different species and genera of the Maydeae and sorghum (Andropogoneae) studied were round or slightly oval with a single pore (uniporate). In Maydeae, the pollen grain diameter along the longest axis was found to vary between 31.25 µm and 124.70 µm under Delhi summer conditions. The pollen of Chionachne (Chio-1) was the smallest, and the largest pollen belonged to Sikkim primitive maize (S-44). The pollen of maize was generally largest followed by teosinte, Coix, sorghum and Chionachne. As to the pollen size among teosintes, Zea diploperennis had the smallest (77.92 µm) and the Mexican teosinte (Teo-2) had the largest (95.83 µm). In Coix, the minimum pollen size noted was 55.83 µm and the maximum was 97.92 µm. Chionachne pollen ranged from 31.25 µm and 39.17 µm in size. The pollen size of the two sorghum lines examined, viz. CK 60B and 2077B, were 37.50 and 38.50 µm, respectively. Based on the C.D. value for pollen grain size no difference was observed between Chionachne and sorghum. The size ranges of maize, teosinte and Coix were overlapping with one another (see Table 1).

Table 1. Comparison of pollen grain size based on C.D. value (7.15).
 
Material Pollen size (µm)
Chionachne-1 31.25
CK 60B 37.50
2077 B 38.75
Chionachne-5 39.17
Coix-9 55.83
Coix-29 60.00
Coix-11 69.,17
Z. diploperennis 77.92
S-44 81.67
Coix-49 83.33
Teo-1 85.00
Teo-6 85.83
Teo-5 87.08
Arrocillo Amarillo 90.00
Teo-3 90.83
Z. luxurians 92.50
Palo. Toluqueno Mex-5 94.17
Tepecintle, Teo-4 95.42
Teo-2 95.83
T-2 96.67
Coix-48 97.92
S-18 100.00
Pira 101.25
T-26 101.67
S-27 104.17
Conico Norteno 111.25
Chapalote, M-15 113.33
N-4 115.00
M-25 120.83
M-1 121.67
S-23 124.17


Please Note: Notes submitted to the Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter may be cited only with consent of the authors

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