write a note on germination of pollen grains in a synthetic medium.
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Answers
Pollen germination in the stigmatic tissue of Portulaca was first observed as early as 1824 by Amici and later he observed the germinating pollen tube entering ovule. Pollen acts as a vehicle for the transfer of male gametes to embryo of female plant. Pollen viability is an important factor in successful hybridization which may last from few minutes mostly in self-pollinated crops to many hours or days in cross pollinated crops. Assessing pollen viability is very crucial in artificial pollination especially involving different species or genera. Among diverse techniques used to assess pollen viability, in vitro pollen germination is the most reliable method. Pollen has been germinated in variety of media which differs from species to species and even for different varieties of a crop [1, 2]. Linskens [3] used simple sucrose/boric acid media and later many complex medium have been reported with addition of polyethylene glycol, various amino acids, etc. [4, 5, 6]. Among the many PGMs the one developed by Brewbaker and Kwack [7] has been widely used with some alterations.
A brief discussion was made in this chapter to develop a pollen germination protocol for a crop/species.
Answer:
A pollen tube is a tubular structure produced by the male gametophyte of seed plants when it germinates. Pollen tube elongation is an integral stage in the plant life cycle. The pollen tube acts as a conduit to transport the male gamete cells from the pollen grain—either from the stigma (in flowering plants) to the ovules at the base of the pistil or directly through ovule tissue in some gymnosperms. In maize, this single cell can grow longer than 12 inches (30 cm) to traverse the length of the pistil.