Abstract
Triploid breeding through 2n eggs induction has become one of the most powerful approaches for the improvement of the genus Populus. To enhance the efficiency of triploid production in section Aigeiros, female buds (catkins) of P. × euramericana (Dode) Guinier at different developmental stages were exposed to colchicine for 2n eggs induction. The relationship between flower bud morphological characteristics (or time after pollination) and female meiotic stage (or embryo sac development) was established to guide colchicine treatments. In the resulting progeny, three triploid seedlings were obtained via embryo rescue and identified by flow cytometric analyses. Cytological observation revealed that the leptotene to pachytene stage of meiosis and 12 h after pollination might be the suitable period for 2n eggs induction with colchicine in P. × euramericana. Results and protocols related to 2n eggs induction, effective methodologies for embryo rescue, and ploidy evaluation in this study might be applicable in polyploidy breeding in section Aigeiros.
Funding
This research was supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 31370658]; the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University [grant number IRT13047]; the “948” project of China [grant number 2014-4-59] and the Special Fund for Forestry Scientific Research in the Public Interest [grant number 201404422].