An Evaluation of Preparatory Procedures for Leaf-Tip Chromosomes Spreads of the Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis)

Abstract

Well-spread metaphase plates for routine karyotype analysis can be obtained by treating the very young leaf-buds of tea shoots in a saturated aqueous solution of p-dichlorobenzene for 2–3 hr at 4–10 C, fixing in a 1:3:6 mixture of propionic acid, chloroform and ethanol for 6–12 hr, staining with 2% propiono orcein at about 80 C, and squashing in a drop of 1% propiono-carmine under a coverslip.