Induction and investigation of polyploidy in IAN 717 rubber tree clone. A preliminary study

Abstract

Buds of lAN 717 rubber tree clone were treated with a solution of colchicine plus dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to induce polyploidy in plants with 2n = 36 chromosomes. Sprouts from five treated buds showed morphological variation and were vegetatively multiplied as clones. Mitotic studies of the leaf tip confirmed a high degree of mixoploidy. Morphologically, the polyploidy clones differed from the control diploid in having shorter height, greater stem diameter, smaller L/B ratio of the stomata, larger petiole and larger stomata. Quantitative characters of the polyploid clones with respect to cytology, bark characters, foliage characters, stomata parameters and yield by the Mendes early test are presented. In addition, a study of the occurrence of correlation between yield and various yield determining factors of the bark was carried out. More studies on the new polyploidy clones are recommended.