No abstract

Cultivating garlic after the rice season has been increasingly attractive for rice farmers in the Philippines especially in areas where rice production is constrained by water scarcity. In Mindoro, Philippines, garlic cultivars planted include 'Mindoro White' (MW), 'Lubang' (LB), 'Batanes White' (BW), and 'Ilocos White' (IW). This study provides an in-depth analysis of major local garlic cultivars for classification and for selection of those with improved adaptation and marketability. For classification, we focused on phenotypic stable traits. Among these traits analyzed, clove weight (p < 0.001) and number of bulb leaf sheaths (p < 0.05) were significantly different. While there were small differences in their clove number and bulb color, bulb circumference (p < 0.001) and weight (p < 0.01) were highly significant. BW has the largest bulb circumference (126.50 ± 1.88 mm) and weight (22.38 ± 0.94 g) while MW has the smallest (103.30 ± 1.57 mm) and is lightest (13.78 ± 0.50 g). Bivariate analysis revealed that the highest bulb circumference and weight values of MW population correspond to the lowest values of BW population suggesting that these cultivars are two distinct populations. This was further supported by classical clustering analysis that distinguished them by bulb circumference (87.12%), clove number (76.01%) and number of clove vascular structures (78.27%). Across cultivars, measurements of the epidermal and parenchymal cells significantly differed. Qualitative analysis of the bulb characteristics showed that BW exhibits a regular, multi-fan bulb structure with three layers of large cloves implying market attractiveness while IW's distinctly tight clove's skin indicates long storage potential.

No abstract

Attainment of high seed yield in hybrid rice seed production is a function of the amount of pollen that the male parent can shed during pollination. Low pollen load of the male parent (TG101M) of hybrid rice, Mestiso 19 leads to low seed yield which limits the number of hybrid rice seed growers engaged in its hybrid seed production. Artificial pollination, through collection and storage of sufficient amount of pollen may provide a solution to the problem. Additional pollen artificially loaded onto stigmas of female parent of Mestiso 19 (PRUPTG101) may increase seed yield. The study was conducted during wet and dry season of year 2016 and 2017 at Phil Rice Central Experiment Station to develop technique in pollen collection and storage of TG101M. Pollens were collected at anthesis, 30 minutes and 1 hour after anthesis, then stored in amber glass, paper and ziplock plastics and stored for 24, 48 and 72 hours in 28 0 C, 5 0 C, -5 0 C. Pollens were grown in three different media for pollen viability and germination and viewed under the microscope for pollen tube growth. Pollen viability and germination was high at anthesis and decreased thereafter. Pollen grains grown in media 2 maintained pollen viability even after 1 hour after anthesis. Pollen germination decreased over time regardless of media used. Pollen tube length was consistently high at anthesis when pollen grains were grown in media 2 and 3 only. The length of pollen tube growth from medium 2 differed between 30 min and 1 hour. Less than 50% viable pollen was achieved after 24 hours of storage. Pollen viability and germination decreased beyond 24 hours. To increase the viability of collected pollen from TG101M for possible artificial pollination, grains must be collected at anthesis and stored immediately in amber glass under cold storage at negative 5°C.