Efficacy of organic solvents for medium term storage of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) pollen

The oil palm is the richest source of vegetable oil in the world. The hybrid nature of crop necessitates artificial hybridization between proven parent palms which in turn require the pollen from male parent to be collected and stored without loss of viability for sufficiently long period. Reports suggested that pollen grains of various taxa could be successfully preserved in different organic solvents. In the present study, attempt was made to evaluate the suitability of organic solvents to store the oil palm pollen at 0 to-5°C temperature. Among the five solvents used, there was significant variation for viability and germination percentages. Viability was the maximum for pollen stored in Diethyl ether (90.45%) as well as in n-Hexane (88.41%) after 200 days of storage. Viability of pollen stored in Chloroform and Acetone were moderate and in case of Methyl alcohol, complete loss of viability was observed. With respect to pollen germination in vitro, similar trend was observed. The trend was same at different intervals/period of storage. This was confirmed through in vivo pollination and fruits set studies. Thus, present method indicated that it is feasible to store oil palm pollen in non polar solvents beyond 200 days without considerable loss of viability or germination.