Punit Choudhary , N. B. Singh

Abstract

The genetic improvement of willows through traditional breeding can be facilitated by pollen collection and storage. The female flower receptivity need not be synchronized with pollen shed for breeding. Studies on collection, viability and storage of pollen of commercially important Salix spp. was carried out for implementation of successful breeding programme. The pollen size varied from 20.12 μm to 40.49 μm with clone 131/25 exhibiting maximum size whereas S. babylonica registered minimum size. Germination percentage of the pollen extracted with toluene (Solvent method) was comparatively lower then that of untreated pollen., pollen germination percentage varied between 54.28 to 46.45 per cent in 2009 and 62.88 to 46.88 per cent in 2010. Maximum pollen viability has been recorded at the time of pollen collection. Pollen grains retained higher viability at -20°C even after nine months as compared to pollen stored at 4°C in both the years. Pollen stored at two different temperatures revealed that there was a linear decrease in pollen viability with increase in storage period. The main pollinators found affecting cross pollination among willows were honey bees (Apies spp.), flies, wasps (Polister spp.) and bumble bee (Bambus spp.)

Keywords

, Pollen Viability, Storage, Morphology, Pollinators

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N. B. Singh ¹, Punit Choudhary ¹, Santosh Joshi ¹, D. K. Srivastava ¹, J. P. Sharma ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.) 173230, IN

Abstract

Twenty-five promising willow (Salix spp.) clones were selected after nursery screening twice, collected from six countries. Genetic relatedness among the clones was estimated using RAPD markers. Out of 20 primers tested, 16 primers were selected based on the amplification of DNA. A total of 339 bands were scored of which 338 were polymorphic showing high (99.7%) rate of polymorphism. The similarity coefficient ranged from 0.71 to 0.87. These clones were grouped into six different clusters. Clone PN-733 (Salix nigra from New Zealand) appeared to be the most diverse (76 %) from rest of the genotypes on the basis of dendrogram. Maximum similarity (87%) was observed between clones SI-63-007 (S. alba from Italy) and V-99 (Salix alba X S. rubens from Croatia). RAPD analysis proved helpful for estimating the magnitude of genetic diversity at molecular level. The clustering further indicated that the geographic distribution may not be the true index of genetic diversity in willow clones. The marker system was found useful for developing unique fingerprints of three genotypes. On the basis of banding pattern RAPD's were effectively used for molecular characterization of willow clones used in this study.

Keywords

RAPD, Willow, Genetic Diversity, Characterization, Polymorphism

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Santosh Kumar A. Huse ¹, N. B. Singh ¹, Punit Choudhary ², J. P. Sharma ¹, I. K. Thakur ¹, Ratan Kumar Anand ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and forestry Nauni, Solan, H. P., IN
2 Sher- E- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, J&K, IN

Abstract

Twenty-three tree willow clones comprising of seven species were studied for variability of photosynthetic traits and their relationship at one year age. Photosynthesis, transpiration and instantaneous water use efficiency (WUEi) were determined and the data were further subjected for the estimation of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variability (GCV and PCV), heritability and genetic gain (as per cent of mean). Variability estimates were calculated for growth parameters viz., height, collar diameter, volume index, number of branches, number of nodes, internodal length, leaf display and leaf area. Among all the parameters volume index showed widest range of values (9.29-721.50, mean 356.42). The narrowest range was recorded for leaf display (195.0-291.0, mean 238.17). The maximum GCV (39.99) was recorded for transpiration, followed by photosynthesis (38.36) and least in case of WUEi (19.71). Heritability (h² b.s.) was recorded maximum (85.30) for transpiration, (80.00) for photosynthesis and (26.55) for WUEi. A positive significant correlation (r= 0.754) was observed between photosynthesis and transpiration. WUEi showed significant negative correlation (r = -0.364) with transpiration whereas positive non significant (r = 0.209) with photosynthesis. Selection of both traits i.e. photosynthesis rate and WUE are important in order to make photosynthesis more effective using water efficiently to produce higher yield.

Keywords

Salix, Photosynthesis, Transpiration Wuei, Heritability, Genetic Gains And Genetic Correlation.

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