Assessment of pollen production, viability and germinability in three Sesame cultivars

Abstract

Pollen production, viability and germinability were assessed in three sesame cultivars viz Kenana4, Ex-Sudan and E8. The seeds were collected from the National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi and were raised to maturity in pots filed with rich loamy soil in a randomised block designed at the experimental garden of CPES, Federal University of Technology, Minna. While the Haemocytometric method was used to determine the pollen production, the IKI (Iodine + Potassium Iodide) stain was used for pollen viability test, and germinability test was carried out using different sucrose concentrations with 1% agar solution. Results showed that all the cultivars had high pollen production and viability percentages were however significantly affected by media concentrations. Although, the viability percentages were higher than the germination percentages, it was an indication that not all viable pollens germinated in vitro. This has provided an insight into the reproduction biology of sesame and this can be useful in future breeding experiments. In addition, the highest pollen germination was observed for variety kenana4 and E8 in the 20% sucrose but for variety Ex- Sudan the highest percentage germinability was observed in 30% sucrose solution. From the study, it can be concluded that variety Ex- Sudan, E8 and Kenana4 of sesame are good pollinizers and will be good for breeding experiments.