Anther development and microsporegenesis in Gossypium herbaceum L.

Gosseypium herbaceum L. is known as cotton plant belongs to the family Malvaceae. This plant is widely distributed throughout western India, Africa, Middle East countries, central Asia, and Availability is found in Iran, Afghanistan, Russian and Turkistan. Gossypium herbaceum L. is a cultivateda cotton species (2n=2x =26, A₁ A₁) has favorable traits such as excellent drought tolerance and resistance to sucking insects and leaf curl virus. In this study, microsporegenesis and anther development of G.herbaceum were studied. The flower, in different developmental stages, were removed, fixed in formalin-glacial acetic acid-alcohol(FAA), stored in 70%ethanol, embedded in paraffin and then sliced at 8–10Mm by rotary microtom. Staining was carried out by periodic Acid Shiff (PAS)and contrasted with hematoxylin. Scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used to analyze the mature pollen grains. The results indicated that anthers wall development followed the dicotyledonous type and were tetrasporangiate which composed of epidermal layer, endotheciumlayer, middle layer and tapetum layer.