lndian bot. Reptr.
1411 +21 : 148 to 149. 1995
.:
III,TPACT OF.AGRO.CHEMICALS ON IN VITRO POLLEN GERMINATION OF
CROTALARI A M E DI CAGI N E A VAR. LUXURIANS
G. B. KULK:ARNI AND T. SRINIVASU
Botany Department, lnstitute of Science, Aurangabad - 431 OO4.
Crotalaria medicaginea vat. luxurians
(Fabaceae) is a common weed, growing
luxuriantly in the crop fields and vacant
sites in Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
It causes loss of yield of Jowar and Ground-
nut crops. The pollen tube formation is an
important step i'n fei'tilization and embryo
formation, which ultimately leads to seed
setting. This weed is sexually reproducing
plant and sets a large number of seeds.
Hence, it was thought worthwhile to study
the effect of agro-chemicals on in vitro
pollen germination to arrest pollen germi-
nation and pollen tube growth.
The pollen grains oJ the weed were col-
lected by testing anthers on a slide. The
hanging drop technique (Vasil, 1960) was
adopted fol pollen germination. The pollen
grairis were germinated in various concen-
trations of freshly prepared Sodium salt of
2,4-D (1O0-1O00 ppm), Glyphosate (100-
6OO'ppm), Atrazine 1tO0-25O0 ppm) and
Goal (100-800 ppm) and observations
were made. Similarly, pollen germination
was also studied in distilled water as con-
trol. Ttris work was carried out during Au-
gust and Septernber, 1 995 in the labora-
tory under controlled conditions.
The germination percentage of pollen
of this weed was 34.72 in control. lt was
24.14, 17.79, 10.82,7.72,3.54 and 0.00
at 100, 2OO, 4OO,600, 800 and 1000
ppm of Sodium salt of 2, 4-D respectively.
At 100, 500, 1000, 1 500, 2000 and 2500
ppm of Atrazine, the ,percentage was
25.39, 22.51, 20.24, 13.56, 6.07 and
0.00, respectively. The percentage was
20.09, 16.83, 1 1 .31 and 0.00 respectively
at 100, 200, 400 and 600
ppm of Glyphosate. Similarly, at respec-
tive doses of Goal, the percentage was
25.64, 19.02, 13.08 and 5.25, The in-
hibitory dose for pollen germination was
8OO ppm of Goal. From the foregoing re-
sults, it was obvious that the perdentage
of pollen germination decreased as the
concentration of agro-chemicals went up
and percentages were less than control.
The pollen grains did not germinate at 2500
ppm of Atrazine, 100O ppm of Sodium salt
of 2,4.D, B0O'ppm of Goal and 6O0 ppm
of Glyphosate. Hence, these are consid-
ered as inhibitory doses. Further, it is clear
from the results that the Glyphosate was
found to be the most efficient among four
agro-chemicals studied. Gentle and
Galtangner- (1 97 21 studied tfie ettect ot' 32
commercial formulations pesticides inctud-
ing 2,4-D on in vitro pollen germination in
Petunia hybrida and reported that the ma-
jority of them reduced the pollen germina-
tion and a few of them inhibited germina-
tion totally. Patil (1978) obtained inhibi-
ti6'n of 'pollen " tube f ormation in
Catharantheus rosea with 2,41-D. Srinivasu
and Bakale (1989) observed the inhibition
of pollen germination and tube formation
in Parthenium hysterophorus Linn. bV 2,4-D
and other agro-chemicals. Jain (1993)
studied the inhibition of pollen germination
in Chenopodium album by Glyphosate and
2,4-D. Gopal (1993) found 2,4-D and Goal
inhibited pollen germination totally at 10
and 60 ppm,'respectively in Medicago sativa.
microns at 100, 200, 400, 600 and 800
ppm of Sodium salt of 2,4-D, respectively"
ln Glyphosate, it was 0.71, 0.58, O.42 and
0.28 microns at 1OO, 2OO, 400 and 5O0
ppm, respectively. At 100, 500, 1000 and
1500 ppm of Atrazine, the pollen tube
149 IMPACT OF AGRO.CHEMICALS
length was 1 .11, 1.33, 0.76 and 0.71 Authors are grateful to the Director, tn-
microns, respectively. The pollen tube stitute of Science, Aurangabad, for pro-
length was too small to be measured at viding research facilities. They are also
2000 ppm of Atrazine. The length was thankfulto Prof. R. M. Pai for going through
0.74, 0.66, 0.49 and 0.30 microns at 1OO, the manuscript.
200, 400 and 600 ppm of Goal, respec-
tively as against 1.53 microns in control.
The maximum reduction in pollen tube
length was observed in Glyphosate, Goal REFERENCES
and Sodium salt of 2,4-D in decreasing
order. However, the increase in pollen tube Choudhary. B. & P. V.George,l g62Indian
length was noticed till400 ppm of Sodium J. Horticulture 19 : 14.
salt of 2,4-D and 500 ppm of Atrazine from
the initial doses and then reduced at higher Gentle, A. G. & K. J. Gallangher, 1972
concentrations. J. Econ. Ent. 65: 488.
Gopal, K. R. 1993 P/,.D. Thesis, Nagpur
Abnormalities like bursting of poilen Univ., Nagpur.
tube at their tips was noticed rarely in con-
trol; maximum at 50 ppm of Sodium salt Jain, S. B. 1993 Ph.D.Thesis, Nagpur Univ.,
of 2,4-D and Goal and 25 and 5O ppm of Nagpur.
Glyphosate and Atrazine. This might be due
to change in pH, turgor pressure or exten- Patil, G.V. 1978 The Botaniqueg (1-4) : 73.
sibility of pollen grains and poilen tubes.
Choudhary and George (1962! in Brinjal, Patil, G. V. & S. A. Rahman, 1g7B IVInt.
Patil and Rahman'(1 978) in Margmia annua, Palyol. Conf,, Lucknow, 4O7.
Srinivasu and Bakale (1g8g) in parthenium
hysterophoru,r, Jain (1993) in Chenopodium Srinivasu, T. & V. L. Bakalei I ggg Ad. plant
album and Gopal (1993) in Medicago sativa Sci.2l2l :297.
reported similar bursting of poilen tube
caused by different herbicides. Further- Vasil, l. K. 1960 Amer.J.Bot.4l:23g.
mbre, sWelling of pollen tube tip and tube,
curvature was observed at 100, 20O and
400 ppm of Goal, respectively.