Paomipem Phazang and Neera Bhalla Sarin
The Pollen Story of Brassica juncea, Indian Mustard: In vitro Pollen Germination, Pollen Tube Growth and Viability Assessment
The Indian mustard, Brassica juncea cv. Varuna is an annual oilseed crop in India. Because of its economical importance, this crop has gained a lot of interests among plant biologists. Advancements in science and technology have promoted multiple facet research that would aid in understanding and deciphering key elements that regulate growth and development in this crop. Contributing to the venture, this study highlights the pollen aspect of the Brassica juncea plants. We succeeded in documenting pollen germination, pollen tube growth and viability in vitro in Brassica juncea cv. Varuna. We established an efficient in vitro system that yielded >70% germination of Brasssica juncea pollen grains and allowed normal growth and development of pollen tubes. The agarosebased substrate formulated not only served as matrix for pollen culture but also for microscopic analyses. In addition, it also served as suitable matrix for various dyes used, allowing easy and rapid staining for epifluorescence visualization. Flow cytometry (FCM) analyses gave rapid information about the viability of pollen grains. Conventional flouorochromatic reactions followed by microscopic examination could be avoided with FCM measurements.
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