Open Access

ARTICLE

Pollen viability of Polygala paniculata L. (Polygalaceae) using different staining methods

by VIVIANE DAL-SOUTO FRESCURA, HAYWOOD DAIL LAUGHINGHOUSE IV, THAIS SCOTTI DO CANTODOROW, SOLANGE BOSIO TEDESCO

1. Laboratory of Cytogenetics and Genotoxicity, Department of Biology, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas (CCNE), Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Avenida Roraima, nº 1000, Cep. 97105-900, Camobi, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.
2. Centre for Protein Engineering, Institute of Chemistry B6, University of Liège, Belgium.

*Address correspondence to: Solange Bosio Tedesco. E-mail:

BIOCELL 2012, 36(3), 143-145. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2012.36.143

Abstract

Polygala paniculata L. is a medicinal plant that grows in the Brazilian Atlantic coast, known as ‘barba-de-São-João’, ‘barba-de-bode’, ‘vassourinha branca’, and ‘mimosa’. In this study, pollen viability was estimated by three different staining methods: 2% acetic orcein, 2% acetic carmine, and Alexander’s stain. The young inflorescences of twenty accessions were collected and fixed in a solution of ethanol: acetic acid (3:1) for 24 hours, then stored in ethanol 70% under refrigeration. Six slides per plant, two for each stain, were prepared by squashing, and 300 pollen grains per slide were analyzed. Pollen viability was high (>70%) for most accessions of P. paniculata using the Alexander’s stain, which proved the most adequate method to estimate pollen viability.

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