Summary
The kinds and sites of sterility and inviability were noted in induced tetraploids of threeIpomoea species, and of hybrids ofIpomoea lacunosa withI. trichocarpa. Tetraploids were somewhat less fertile than diploids, but seeds were normal appearing and ususally viable. Hybrids were much less fertile. Hybrid sterility occurred as pollen abortion, pollen germination failure, and in failure of pollen tube growth. Small and underdeveloped seeds failed to germinate. The sterility of hybrids (but not of tetraploids) is thus very similar to that of the hexaploid sweet potato. Sterility suggests developmental inbalance, which is probably due to genic and perhaps minor chromosomal differences among the parent species of the sweet potato. Hybrid sterility of the sweet potato may have been fixed by polyploidy, and thus may be impossible to eliminate.
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Martin, F.W. Sterility in some species related to the sweet potato. Euphytica 19, 459–464 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01902920
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01902920