Developmental and Biochemical Characteristics of Cold-treated Anthers of Saccharum spontaneum

The role of cold in stimulating androgenic haploid development was evaluated by assessing morphological and biochemical changes occurring in Saccharum spontaneum anthers during 3 weeks of incubation of panicle sections at 10 °C. During incubation, anthers increased in size; and although many microspores lost viability, those that survived proceeded to divide symmetrically rather than asymmetrically as found in normal microsporogenesis. Anthers which contained dividing microspores differed biochemically from anthers containing non-viable microspores. Anthers initially with high reducing sugars and total free amino acids and with high amylase activity were most likely to produce dividing microspores. Amide metabolism during incubation correlated with microspore development. In all anthers amides increased during cold incubation. The anthers most likely to contain non-viable microspores had much higher asparagine content relative to glutamine content.