Meiotic index in Myrtaceae native fruits trees from southern Brazil
Rodrigo Cezar Franzon, and Maria do Carmo Bassols Raseira
This work aimed to evaluate meiotic index in Myrtaceae species, native of southern Brazil. Flower buds were collected and stored in ethylic alcohol:propionic acid (2:1) until evaluation by the smear and squash technique with propionic carmin as a dye. A minimum of 10 buds and 2000 tetrads were observed. Acca sellowiana showed a high cytological stability (96%) whereas Eugenia involucrata, E. pyriformis, Campomanesia xanthocarpa, and E. uniflora (populations “A” and “B”) showed reasonable stability, respectively 87.3%, 89.5%, 89.3%, 84.8%, and 88.3%. Pollen germination of E. uniflora was considerably low than of the other species. The most common abnormality was the occurrence of triads. Further evaluations should be conducted in individual plants of each species, in order to enable the characterization of different clones or populations to form the basis of future genetic breeding programs.