A Cytological Study on Comparison of Anther and Pollen Development in Male-sterile and Corresponding Maintainer Lines of Leek

In order to investigate the mechanism of leek abortion,a comparative study on anther and pollen development process in leek(Allium tuberosum Rottl.ex Spreng) was carried out between the male sterile(MS) line and its corresponding maintainer(M) line by means of paraffin section.The results showed that The tapetum had the characteristics of both glandular tapetum and metamorphous tapetum,pollen abortion is ralated to tapetum.Moreover,it was observed that there were two types of leek pollen abortion: in abortion type Ⅰ,the prophase of anther meiosis in MS line was normal,abortion was taken place at the meiosis stages from dyad to tetrad,tapetum cells of MS line inflated like vacuolization,at the same time,the pollen mother cells conglutinated together,and ultimately dissembled and disappeared,only left a stripe with deep color in the locules.The locules could split normally but no pollen spilled out.On the other hand,in abortion type Ⅱ,the abortion was taken place at stage,the degradation of tapetum was happened earlier in the tetrad stage,earlier than normal.The mononuclear pollen was lack of nutrition,then dissembled and disappeared.