Abstract
Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is an important root crop and vegetable across tropics and subtropics of the world. Conventional breeding of taro is hindered due to asynchrony in flowering owing to functional, structural barriers associated with flowering behaviour. An attempt was made to tackle asynchronous behaviour in taro by preserving pollen. The present study was therefore undertaken to cryostore taro pollen at different time intervals ranging from 1 week to 2 months and to use the cryostored pollen for hybridization of exotic taros introduced in India. Fruit setting was observed within a week of hybridizing exotic taros with cryopreserved pollens. Seeds extracted from different combinations were characterized. Seed germination in vitro was recorded in the range of 60–90 % among the seeds of different parental combinations. In vitro seedlings transplanted, hardened and established in screen house are now under field evaluation for early maturity and blight resistance. These results will improve planned hybridization in asynchronous flowering type aroids like taro and will contribute to recover desirable hybrids with the aid of cryopreservation tools.
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Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the Europe-Aid project “Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial changes” (Grant No DCI-FOOD/2010/230-267 SPC). The support and encouragement of Dr. N.K. Krishna Kumar, DDG, Horticulture, ICAR, India, during the course of present investigation is gratefully acknowledged. Technical support of moisture content analysis at CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India through Dr. P.S. Mukherjee is also acknowledged sincerely.
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Mukherjee, A., George, J., Pillai, R. et al. Development of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) hybrids overcoming its asynchrony in flowering using cryostored pollen. Euphytica 212, 29–36 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-016-1745-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-016-1745-8