Effect of desiccation on pollen viability of different genotypes of Eucalyptus grandis

Abstract

Freshly colected polens from opened and unopened flowers of two genotypes (EG45 and 1361) of Eucalyptus grandiswere desiccated in oven at 30oC and over silica gel in desiccator for various times. It was found that E. grandis polen has arequirement of certain degree of desiccation before rehydration and germination. Polen of both genotypes of E. grandis has dif-ferent drying requirements. These results suggest that desiccation is an important factor in determining the viability of pollen andthe processing schedules for polen should consider genotypic diferences, and the ne schedule fits all approach may be inap-propriate. These results also simply the importance of pollen collection time.