Comparison of Three Pollination Methods for Eucalyptus Argophloia, a Small-Flowered Eucalypt Bruce W
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Comparison of three pollination methods for Eucalyptus argophloia, a small-flowered eucalypt Bruce W. Randall, David A. Walton, David J. Lee, Helen M. Wallace To cite this version: Bruce W. Randall, David A. Walton, David J. Lee, Helen M. Wallace. Comparison of three pollination methods for Eucalyptus argophloia, a small-flowered eucalypt. Annals of Forest Science, Springer Nature (since 2011)/EDP Science (until 2010), 2015, 72 (1), pp.127-133. 10.1007/s13595-014-0407-z. hal-01284161 HAL Id: hal-01284161 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01284161 Submitted on 7 Mar 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Annals of Forest Science (2015) 72:127–133 DOI 10.1007/s13595-014-0407-z ORIGINAL PAPER Comparison of three pollination methods for Eucalyptus argophloia, a small-flowered eucalypt Bruce W. Randall & David A. Walton & David J. Lee & Helen M. Wallace Received: 4 December 2013 /Accepted: 8 July 2014 /Published online: 30 July 2014 # INRA and Springer-Verlag France 2014 Abstract the open pollination and three-stop pollination treatments than & Context Most studies assess pollination success at capsule for the AIP and AIP unpollinated pollination treatments. maturity, and studies of pre-zygotic processes are often There were no significant differences relative to the age of lacking. pollen. & Aims This study investigates the suitability of controlled & Conclusions Pre-zygotic success in terms of pollen tubes pollination for a potential forestry plantation species, was similar for open-pollinated, three stop and AIP, but was Eucalyptus argophloia, by examining pre- and post-zygotic not reflected in post-zygotic success when the open pollina- pollination success. tion and three-stop method produced significantly more seeds & Methods Pollen tube development, capsule set and seed set per retained capsule than the AIP treatments and open polli- are compared following three-stop pollination, artificially in- nation yielded more seeds. Capsule set and total seed set for duced protogyny (AIP), AIP unpollinated and open pollina- open pollination, and fewer capsules in controlled pollina- tion. The fecundity of stored pollen was compared with that of tions, may reflect physical damage to buds because of the fresh pollen. small E. argophloia flowers. Suitable alternative breeding & Results Three-stop pollination, AIP and open pollination strategies other than controlled pollinations are discussed for had similar numbers of pollen tubes, but AIP unpollinated this species. had none. Open pollination produced significantly more cap- sules and total number of seeds than the other treatments. Keywords Eucalyptus argophloia . Pollination methods . There were significantly more seeds per retained capsule for Pollen tubes . Seed set . Pollen age Handling Editor: Ricardo Alia 1 Introduction Contribution of the co-authors Bruce W. Randall: collaboratively de- signing the experiments, undertaking the experiments, collecting and Australia’s forests are dominated by an iconic single group of analysing data and drafting and editing the manuscript. “ “ David A. Walton: collaboratively designing the experiments and plants, the gum trees (Eucalyptus, Corymbia and discussing, editing and submitting the manuscript. Angophora spp.). The genus Eucalyptus has been exploited David J. Lee: providing equipment and access to the experimental site, worldwide for raw material for pulp, paper and solid-wood doing field work and reviewing the manuscript. products and is the most widely planted hardwood species in Helen M. Wallace: coordinating the project, collaboratively designing the experiments, supervising the experiments, discussing data and results and the world (Turnbull 1999). In 2008, worldwide plantings were editing the manuscript. estimated at 19.61 million ha (Nichols et al. 2010). Demand for hardwood timber for sawlogs is increasing in Australia, B. W. Randall : D. A. Walton (*) : D. J. Lee : H. M. Wallace Faculty of Science, Health, Education, and Engineering, University and suitable species that are adapted to marginal, low-rainfall of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD 4558, Australia areas are needed (Lee et al. 2010). e-mail: [email protected] Breeding for genetic improvement of eucalypts is still at an early stage (Horsley et al. 2007). Eucalypt species preferen- D. J. Lee Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, P.O. Box 395, tially outcross; however, self-pollination is common (Griffin Gympie, QLD 4570, Australia et al. 1988). Three techniques are commonly used to produce 128 B.W. Randall et al. seed of known parentage in eucalypts: three-stop pollination zygotic) but, in contrast, almost complete lack of self-seed (Ellis et al. 1991; Sedgley and Smith 1989), one-stop pollina- production (post-zygotic) compared with cross-pollinated tion (Harbard et al. 1999; Williams et al. 1999) and artificially seed (Pound et al. 2002b). Reciprocal and advanced genera- induced protogyny (AIP) techniques (Assis et al. 2005; tion hybrids of Corymbia citriodora and Corymbia torelliana Horsley et al. 2010). The three-stop pollination method re- showed high fertility between all crosses as demonstrated by quires flowers to be emasculated and bagged to prevent un- pollen tubes, and early differences in pre-zygotic reproductive wanted self- or cross-pollen from accessing the stigma. This success were carried through to seed maturity for C. torelliana system is expensive and labour-intensive with risks of in- females, but not for females of C. citriodora ssp. citriodora creased mortality due to damage to buds during emasculation (Dickinson et al. 2013). There is little knowledge of pre- (Dickinson et al. 2010; Van Wyk 1977). Most eucalypts are zygotic and post-zygotic success for different pollination protandrous, and the stigma is not receptive for up to 10 days methods. after anthesis (Harbard et al. 1999; Randall et al. 2012). The Stored pollen is often required for controlled crosses one-stop pollination method reduces the risk of pollinating when fresh pollen is unavailable due to asynchronous when the stigma is not receptive by removing the tip of the flowering of species (Horsley et al. 2007). The fecundity style and may also overcome incompatibility reactions that of stored pollen is an important factor for successful block pollen tube growth (Patterson et al. 2004; Trindade et al. controlled pollination; for example, pollen quality and 2001). This method also reduces the number of operator visits in vitro germination have been found to decrease with and therefore is less expensive than the three-stop method age and increasing storage temperature for E. smithii, (Williams et al. 1999). The tip of the style is also re- E. nitens and E. grandis (Horsley et al. 2007). moved in the AIP method and it has similar advantages to Eucalyptus argophloia Blakely (Western White Gum or one-stop pollination (Dickinson et al. 2010;Tibbits1989); Chinchilla White Gum) is limited to a small population in a however, there may be an increased risk of self-pollination low-rainfall area (650–700 mm per year) of Southeast because the flowers are not emasculated (Assis et al. Queensland, Australia (Brooker and Kleinig 2004). The spe- 2005; Randall et al. 2012). This method allows pollination cies is listed as “vulnerable” by the Environment Protection before stigma receptivity and increases the quantity of and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Australia) and seed produced in Eucalyptus globulus, E. grandis, E. Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Queensland). E. argophloia smithii and E. macarthurii (Horsley et al. 2010; is a fast-growing tree that produces strong, durable timber and Patterson et al. 2004; Williams et al. 1999). Although is a potential plantation species in marginal, drier subtropical Tibbits (1989) found AIP to be successful in another areas (Ngugi et al. 2004). small-flowered species, E. nitens,Williamsetal.(1999) Previous work on E. argophloia has detected less pollen found this treatment to be unsuccessful in the same tube growth from one-stop pollination methods compared to species. other methods (Randall et al. 2012). The aims of this study are There are many stages involved in successful reproduction to examine pre-zygotic and post-zygotic reproductive success for eucalypts. Pollen must adhere to the stigma, successfully of different pollination treatments by comparing pollen tube grow down the style and fertilize the ovule and then seeds growth, capsule set and seed set between three-stop pollina- must develop and the capsule be retained until maturity tion, AIP, AIP unpollinated and open pollination of (Dickinson et al. 2013). Most studies assess pollination suc- E. argophloia.Thestudyalsocomparedpollentubegrowth, cess at capsule maturity, and studies of pre-zygotic processes, capsule set and seed set between stored pollen and fresh i.e. before ovules are fertilized, are often lacking (Lord 2000). pollen. Pre-zygotic pollination success is not always mirrored in success of seed production, and high seed production does not always indicate efficient