Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Optimization of in vitro pollen germination and viability testing of some Australian selections of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and their xenic and metaxenic effects on the tissue culture–derived female cultivar “Barhee”

  • Developmental Biology
  • Published:
In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Information regarding efficient pollen viability testing methods and the most favourable pollen storage conditions for internationally important date palm cultivars is limited. No such information has been reported on Australian male selections. The in vitro pollen germination of three elite Australian male selections, “Big pod”, “Campbell” and “Tanunda”, was estimated using a modified Brewbaker and Kwack (BK) medium with combinations of various chemicals. Germination was maximized when 75 mg/l H3BO4, 400 mg/l Ca (NO3)2.4H2O, 100 mg/l KNO3, 50 mg/l MgSO4.7H2O and 15% (w/v) sucrose were used in a medium at pH 5.4. The viability of pollen of these three genotypes following storage in a refrigerator at 4°C was tested every 3 mo for 12 mo. Significant pollen viability was maintained after 9 mo of storage and the highest germinability (60.3%) was observed for the genotype “Tanunda”. Six tests for determining viability, including TTC (2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride), IKI (iodine potassium iodide), lactophenol cotton blue (LPCB), acetocarmine, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and Alexander’s differential stain were evaluated and correlations between these pollen viability tests and in vitro germination were determined. A highly positive correlation between in vitro germination and the FDA viability test was observed. The metaxenic effect induced by pollinating the cultivar “Barhee” with three sources of pollen was investigated by assessing changes in the levels of malic acid, citric acid, fructose, glucose, sucrose, l-proline and myo-inositol during fruit development. The pollen source had a significant influence on the concentrations of these chemicals (metaxenic effect). Pollen of the genotype “Tanunda” significantly increased fruit size, fresh weight and seed size in comparison with other pollen sources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al Taher O, Asif M (1982) Stain testing of date pollen viability. Date Palm J 1:233–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Albert D (1930) Viability of pollen and receptivity of pistillate flowers. Date Grower’s Institute Report 7:5–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldelaim K, Ali S (1969) Effect of different date pollen on maturation and quality of zehdi date fruit. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 94:638

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander MP (1969) Differential staining of aborted and nonaborted pollen. Stain Technol 44:117–122

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Khalifah NS (2006) Metaxenia: influence of pollen on the maternal tissue of fruits of two cultivars of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Bangladesh J Bot 35:151–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Wasel A (2000) Vegetative and fruiting comparison of tissue culture derived and conventionally propagated date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv. Barhee trees. In vitro Cell Dev Biol 36:1010

    Google Scholar 

  • Awad MA, Al-Qurashi AD (2012) Partial fruit set failure phenomenon in ‘Nabbut-Ali’ and ‘Sabbaka’ date palm cultivars under hot arid climate as affected by pollinator type and pollination method. Sci Hortic 135:157–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Boavida LC, McCormick S (2007) Technical advance: temperature as a determinant factor for increased and reproducible in vitro pollen germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J 52:570–582

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bolat I, Pirlak L (1999) An investigation on pollen viability, germination and tube growth in some stone fruits. Turk J Agric For 23:383–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Borna F, Ahmad NM, Luo S, Trethowan R (2016) Reproductive biology of a medicinally important plant Leonurus cardiaca (Lamiaceae). Aust J Bot 64:342–358

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brewbaker JL, Kwack BH (1963) The essential role of calcium ion in pollen germination and pollen tube growth. Am J Bot 50:859–865

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brewbaker JL, Kwack BH (1964) The calcium ion and substances influencing pollen growth. In: Linskens HF (ed) Pollen physiology and fertilization. North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp 143–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen Y, Korchinsky R, Tripler E (2004) Flower abnormalities cause abnormal fruit setting in tissue culture-propagated date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). J Hortic Sci Biotechnol 79:1007–1013

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook SA, Stanley RG (1960) Tetrazolium chloride as an indicator of pine pollen germinability. Silvae Genet 9:134–136

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dafni A, Maués MM (1998) A rapid and simple procedure to determine stigma receptivity. Sex Plant Reprod 11:177–180

    Google Scholar 

  • DeMason DA, Sekhar KC (1988) The breeding system in the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and its recognition by early cultivators. Adv Econ Bot 6:20–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Denney JO (1992) Xenia includes Metaxenia. HortScience 27:722–728

    Google Scholar 

  • Djerbi M (2000) Abnormal fruiting of the date palm derived from tissue culture. In: Proc. Date Palm Inter. Symposium, Windhock, Namibia, 22-25 Feb, p. 73

  • El-Kassas S, El-Salhy A, Abd-Alla A (1996) Efficiency of pollination of Zaghloul and Samany date with male strands at certain degrees of drying. Assiut J Agric Sci 27:37–45

    Google Scholar 

  • FAOSTAT (2016) FAO statistical database. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Available online at http://faostat3.fao.org.

  • Furr J, Enriquez V (1966) Germination of date pollen in culture media. Date Growers’ Institute Report 43:24–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Ge LL, Tian HQ, Russell SD (2007) Calcium function and distribution during fertilization in angiosperms. Am J Bot 94:1046–1060

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ghaffar A, Iqbal M (2003) Effect of male pollinizers on fruit setting and yield of cv. Zahidi and Dhakki under the agroclimatic condition of D.I. Khan. M.Sc (Hons) Thesis, Dept. Hort., Agri. Faculty, Gomal Univ., D. I. Khan. Pakistan

  • Heslop-Harrison J (1975) Incompatibility and the pollen-stigma interaction. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 26:403–425

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heslop-Harrison J (1987) Pollen germination and pollen-tube growth. Int Rev Cytol 107:1–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaeppler SM, Kaeppler HF, Rhee Y (2000) Epigenetic aspects of somaclonal variation in plants. In: Matzke MA, Matzke AJM (eds) Plant gene silencing. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 59–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavand A, Shuraki YD, Ebadi A, Abdosi V (2014) Optimizing culture medium for in vitro germination of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) pollen. Eur J Exp Boil 4:665–669

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearns CA, Inouye DW (1993) Techniques for pollination biologists. University Press of Colorado, Niwot, pp583

  • Khalifa A, Azzouz S, Hamdy Z, El-Masry H, Yousef M (1980) Effect of source of pollen on the physical and chemical quality of “Amhat” date variety. Agric Res Rev 58:15–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan SA, Perveen A (2006) Germination capacity of stored pollen of Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Malvaceae) and their maintenance. Pak J Bot 38:233–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Khatun S, Flowers T (1995) The estimation of pollen viability in rice. J Exp Bot 46:151–154

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee C, Thomas J, Buchmann S (1985) Factors affecting in vitro germination and storage of jojoba pollen. J Am Soc Hort Sci (USA) 110:671–676

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lora J, de Oteyza MP, Fuentetaja P, Hormaza J (2006) Low temperature storage and in vitro germination of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) pollen. Sci Hortic 108:91–94

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Malik C, Mehan M (1975) Correlative effects of auxin, gibberellic acid and kinetin on the elongation of pollen tubes in Calotropis procera. Biochem Physiol Pflanz 167:295–300

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maryam M, Jaskani MJ, Fatima B, Salman Haider M, Naqvi SA, Nafees M, Ahmad R, Khan IA (2015) Evaluation of pollen viability in date palm cultivars under different storage temperatures. Pak J Bot 47:377–381

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maryam M, Jaskani MJ, Naqvi SA (2017) Storage and viability assessment of date palm pollen. In: Al-Khayri J, Jain S, Johnson D (eds) Date palm biotechnology protocols volume II. Methods in molecular biology, vol 1638. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7159-6_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Marzouk H, El-Salhy A, Hassan R (2002a) Effect of male type and receptivity of pistil late flowers on fruit set, yield and some physical fruit properties of Zaghloul and Samany date palm cultivars. Proc. of Minia 1st Conference for Agriculture and Environmental Science. Minia, Egypt, March 25-28:983–998

    Google Scholar 

  • Marzouk H, El-Salhy M, Hassan R (2002b) Effect of pollination on fruit set, yield and fruits quality of Zaghloul and Samany date palm cultivars. Proc. of Minia 1st conference for Agriculture and Environment Science. Minia, Egypt, March 25-28:999–1012

    Google Scholar 

  • McCubbin M, Zaid A, Van Stade J (2004) A Southern African survey conducted for off-types on date palms produced using somatic embryogenesis. Emir J Food Agric 16:8–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Merchant A, Richter A, Popp M, Adams M (2006) Targeted metabolite profiling provides a functional link among eucalypt taxonomy, physiology and evolution. Phytochemistry 67:402–408

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mesnoua M, Roumani M, Salem A (2018) The effect of pollen storage temperatures on pollen viability, fruit set and fruit quality of six date palm cultivars. Sci Hortic 236:279–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortazavi S, Arzani K, Moeini A (2008) The effects of different concentration of some chemicals on in vitro pollen grain germination of three khuzestan male date cultivars. J Sci Agric 30:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortazavi S, Arzani K, Moini A (2010) Optimizing storage and in vitro germination of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) pollen. J Agric Sci Technol 12:181–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon RW (1935) Metaxenia in dates. Proc Am Soc Hort Sci 32:221–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Osman AA, Reuther W, Erickson LC (1974) Xenia and metaxenia studies in the date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. Date Growers’ Institute Report 51:6–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Parfitt D, Ganeshan S (1989) Comparison of procedures for estimating viability of Prunus pollen. HortScience 24:354–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne RJ, Edwards KJ, Blackford JJ (2013) Volcanic impacts on the Holocene vegetation history of Britain and Ireland? A review and meta-analysis of the pollen evidence. Veget Hist Archaeobot 22:153–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Prajapati P, Jain B (2010) Effect of sucrose, boron, calcium, magnesium and nitrate during in vitro pollen germination in Luffa Aegyptica Mill. Prajna 18:5–8

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ream C (1976) Metaxenia effect of pollen from inbred male palms on ripening period and size of date fruit. Date Grower’s Institute Report 53:21–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Reuveni O (1986) Date. In: Monselise SP (ed) CRC Handbook of fruit set and development. CRC Press, Boca Raton, F I, pp 119–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Riano T, Dafni A (2000) A new procedure to assess pollen viability. Sex Plant Reprod 12:241–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Salomón-Torres R, Krueger R, García-Vázquez JP, Villa-Angulo R, Villa-Angulo C, Ortiz-Uribe N, Sol-Uribe JA, Samaniego-Sandoval L (2021) Date palm pollen: features, production, extraction and pollination methods. Agronomy 11:504

    Google Scholar 

  • Shafaat M, Shabana R (1980) Metaxenic effects in date palm fruit. Beitr Trop Landwirtsch Veterinarmed 18:117–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaheen MA (2004) Evaluation of date palm males using pollen viability and ultrastructure. Acta Hortic 632:37–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Shair OH, Askari E, Khan PR (2016) Genetic and anatomical analysis of normal and abnormal flowers of date palm cultivar ‘Barhy’ derived from offshoot and tissue culture. Pak J Bot 48:1061–1065

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swingle WT (1928) Metaxenia in the date palm, possibly hormone action by the embryo or endosperm. J Hered 19:257–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinbaum S, Parfitt D, Polito V (1984) Differential cold sensitivity of pollen grain germination in two Prunus species. Euphytica 33(2):419–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaid A, Arias-Jimenez E (2002) Date palm cultivation. Food and Agriculture Organization, Plant production and protection, Paper 156, Rome, p292

  • Zaid A, De Wet P (2002) Climatic requirements of date palm. Chapter 4 in: Zaid A (ed) Date palm cultivation. FAO Plant Production and Protection, Paper 156, Rome, pp58-73

Download references

Acknowledgements

We warmly thank all staff and students of the Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney. Our thanks are also due to Riverland Date Garden Company for providing floral tissue of the date palm genotypes. We greatly appreciate the help of Dr. David Fuentes from the Centre for Carbon Water and Food, University of Sydney, for his assistance in the biochemical analysis. We also thank Professor Emeritus R. A. McIntosh for reviewing the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Breeding Institute, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 107 Cobbitty Road, Cobbitty, NSW, 2570, Australia

    Ahmed Al-Najm, Richard Trethowan & Nabil Ahmad

  2. The Date Palm Research Center, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Ahmed Al-Najm

  3. Riverland Date Garden, 376 Gurra Road, Gurra Gurra, SA, 5343, Australia

    Steve Brauer

  4. Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 380 Werombi Road, Camden, NSW, 2570, Australia

    Andrew Merchant

Authors
  1. Ahmed Al-Najm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steve Brauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard Trethowan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrew Merchant
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nabil Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nabil Ahmad.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Al-Najm, A., Brauer, S., Trethowan, R. et al. Optimization of in vitro pollen germination and viability testing of some Australian selections of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and their xenic and metaxenic effects on the tissue culture–derived female cultivar “Barhee”. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Plant 57, 771–785 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-021-10206-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-021-10206-z

Keywords:

Search

Navigation