Cytological Analysis of Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin. Accessions

Abstract

Thirty-four accessions of Pennisetum pedicellatum Trin. were analysed cytolo-gically in order to know their chromosomal status. Eighteen accessions were found to be tetraploids and sixteen accessions were hexaploids based on x=9. The pair-ing behaviour of chromosomes at meiosis indicates segmental allopolyploid nature of the taxa. The irregular meiosis, however, had no effect on seed production, as the taxa are apomictic in nature. Study of pollen size and stainability indicated that these two criteria cannot be reliable indicators of the level of polyploidy.