Effects of parentage and size of the pollen load on progeny performance in Campanula americana

Abstract

Seed size was positively correlated with early seedling performance for all but one of traits measured (days to emergence), but was not significantly correlated with any of the later vegetative measures or reproductive output. There were significant effects due to the maternal parent for the vegetative traits days to emergence, days to first leaf, and final plant height, as well as total seed weight, and mean seed weight per fruit. Significant paternal effects were found for all seedling traits except number of leaves after vernalization. Progeny from fruits receiving high pollen loads significantly outperformed the progeny from fruits receiving low pollen loads for the traits days to first and second leaf, numbers of leaves after vernalization, and days to first flower. -from Authors