Pollen fertility studies in Indica-Japonica wide compatible rice hybrids

Abstract

The present study aims at evaluating the performance of different hybrids and segregating populations using indica, japonica subspecies and wide compatible varieties for pollen fertility. Ten plants from the 42 indica x japonica hybrids and parents and two hundred plants from segregating populations (F2, B1, B2) in each of the four selected crosses, viz., Plate Blanc MNI x Akihikari, N22 x fR 50, Lambayeque - 1 x ADT 36, Dular x Toyonishiki, were selected at random for pollen fertility studies. The spikelets from early emerging panicles were collected during early morning hours and fixed in 70% alcohol. Anthers from selected spikelets were separated, crushed and stained using 1% potassium iodide solution for observation under microscope. Total number of pollen grains, number of stained and unstained pollen grains were counted separately at 10 different fields and the total in each category was worked out. The pollen fertility was calculated by formula suggested by Chaudhary et al. [1]. The fertility status was classified according to IRRI standards and Govinda Raj and Virmani [2] classification.