Pollen treatment for mutation induction in Eucalyptus globulus ssp. globulus (Myrtaceae)

Abstract

Mutation induction has played an integral role in the improvement of most commercially important crop species but has not been successfully applied to tree species because of their long reproductive cycles which hinder the use of the traditional seed-treatment approaches. Treatment of pollen with a chemical mutagen prior to pollination will, theoretically, allow stable, heterozygous mutant trees to be produced in a relatively short time and might facilitate mutagenesis of tree species. As the first step in testing this hypothesis, a controlled-pollination trial with chemically treated pollen was conducted in Eucalyptus globulus ssp. globulus (Labill). Assessment of fruit, seed and seedlings ..