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The growth of E. globulus and E. nitens pollen tubes in styles of E. globulus was examined in order to elucidate the site of the unilateral barrier to hybridisation. Pollen tubes of E. nitens failed to grow the full length of the larger E. globulus style. E. globulus pollen tubes grew an average of 1.4 mm per day for the first 4 days, compared with 0.8 mm per day for pollen tubes of E. nitens. From days 4 to 14, the growth of E. nitens pollen tubes slowed to an average of 0.2 mm per day and virtually no growth occurred after day 14. In contrast, E. globulus pollen tubes grew through the style and into the ovary between days 5 and 14. By day 28, at about the time of style abscission, E. nitens tubes had grown only 6 mm, well short of the full length of the E. globulus style (9-10 mm). A similar difference in growth was obtained in vitro where E. nitens pollen tubes were significantly shorter than those of E. globulus. A comparison also including E. ovata, E. urnigera and E. gunnii indicated a significant correlation between style length and in vitro pollen tube length. It is argued that the unilateral cross-incompatibility between E. globulus and E. nitens is due to a structural barrier arising from an inherent limit to pollen tube growth which is associated with pistil size.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Forestry sciences
Research Field:	Tree improvement (incl. selection and breeding)
Objective Division:	Plant Production and Plant Primary Products
Objective Group:	Forestry
Objective Field:	Native forests
UTAS Author:	Gore, PL (Mr Peter Gore)
UTAS Author:	Potts, BM (Professor Brad Potts)
UTAS Author:	Megalos, J (Mr John Megalos)
ID Code:	86538
Year Published:	1990
Web of Science® Times Cited:	74
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2013-09-23
Last Modified:	2013-09-30
Downloads:	715 View Download Statistics