Testing culture media for pollen germination of Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (oil palm, Arecaceae)

Abstract

Understanding pollen germination is of great importance for breeding and conservation. We present a protocol for evaluating culture media for germination of pollen of Elaeis guineensis. Samples were collected in the municipality of Nilo Peçanha (State of Bahia, Brazil). A solution of aniline blue in lactophenol was used to determine viability of pollen grains. Two alternative culture media to evaluate germination rates of pollen grains were tested: M1, Brewbaker and Kwack medium; and M2, BCa medium, with addition of boron and calcium. Both media were used with 20% sucrose at pH 6.5. The pollen grains were dried at room temperature in silica gel for 4 h and later placed on slides containing culture media, kept in a Petri dish with filter paper wetted with distilled water and stored in chamber at 30 °C for 24 h. The greatest viability rate was 94% for fresh pollen grains. Highest germination rates were 26 and 64% for M1 and M2, respectively. There was no positive correlation between viability and germination for either M1 or M2 (Pearson's and Spearman's correlation, respectively). Dried pollen on BCa medium (M2) is useful for in vitro germination experiments of E. guineensis given appropriate concentration of sucrose and ions, pH, temperature and incubation time and in the absence of light.