Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Factors influencing the germination and storage characteristics of orchid pollen
- 2 Effect of temperature and moisture content on the viability of Cattleya aurantiaca seed
- 3 Asymbiotic germination of epiphytic and terrestrial orchids
- 4 Germination and mycorrhizal fungus compatibility in European orchids
- 5 Host–fungus relationships in orchid mycorrhizal systems
- 6 The effects of the composition of the atmosphere on the growth of seedlings of Cattleya aurantiaca
- 7 Orchid propagation by tissue culture techniques – past, present and future
- 8 Population biology and conservation of Ophrys sphegodes
- 9 Predicting population trends in Ophrys sphegodes Mill.
- 10 Predicting the probability of the bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) flowering or remaining vegetative from the size and number of leaves
- 11 British orchids in their European context
- 12 The Nature Conservancy Council and orchid conservation
- 13 A private conservation project in the coastal rainforest in Brazil: the first ten years
- 14 The role of the living orchid collection at Kew in conservation
- 15 Import and export of orchids and the law
- Index
1 - Factors influencing the germination and storage characteristics of orchid pollen
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Factors influencing the germination and storage characteristics of orchid pollen
- 2 Effect of temperature and moisture content on the viability of Cattleya aurantiaca seed
- 3 Asymbiotic germination of epiphytic and terrestrial orchids
- 4 Germination and mycorrhizal fungus compatibility in European orchids
- 5 Host–fungus relationships in orchid mycorrhizal systems
- 6 The effects of the composition of the atmosphere on the growth of seedlings of Cattleya aurantiaca
- 7 Orchid propagation by tissue culture techniques – past, present and future
- 8 Population biology and conservation of Ophrys sphegodes
- 9 Predicting population trends in Ophrys sphegodes Mill.
- 10 Predicting the probability of the bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) flowering or remaining vegetative from the size and number of leaves
- 11 British orchids in their European context
- 12 The Nature Conservancy Council and orchid conservation
- 13 A private conservation project in the coastal rainforest in Brazil: the first ten years
- 14 The role of the living orchid collection at Kew in conservation
- 15 Import and export of orchids and the law
- Index
Summary
Introduction
As an adjunct to seed storage for genome preservation, orchid pollen storage has much to offer: to the hybridist wishing to overcome flowering asynchrony in species and/or to introduce wild genome contributions into cultivated taxa; to the gene bank manager seeking to preserve a large quantity of genetic material in a small facility; and to the conservationist anxious to preserve species, even if this can only be achieved through the pollination of plants held ex situ in orchid collections with stored pollen. Pollen storage may also be of considerable future importance to the biotechnologists, if the process of haploid plant production via embryo development from pollen grains (i.e. androgenesis) can be extended to orchids.
The literature on orchid pollen germination is surprisingly limited with previous studies concentrating on optimising the composition of the germination medium, particularly the sugar level. Pfundt (1910), working with two European species and a range of sugar levels from 5–20%, observed a preference for 5–10% sugar. Miwa (1937) similarly found orchid pollen generally germinates best when using cane sugar at around 3–10%. Although more exacting studies on the optimal chemical composition of the germination medium have been performed, particularly with reference to plant hormones (Curtis & Duncan 1947; Rao & Chin 1972), sugar level remains the most important single chemical factor in stimulating orchid pollen germination on artificial medium; its action being osmotic, preventing grain bursting whilst avoiding plasmolysis, rather than as a heterotrophic source of carbon (see Stanley & Linskens 1974).
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- Chapter
- Information
- Modern Methods in Orchid Conservation , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
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