Morphological Characteristics, Fruit Qualities and Evaluation of Reproductive Functions in Autotetraploid Satsuma Mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marcow.)

Abstract

The morphological characteristics and fruit quality of an autotetraploid plant selected from nucellar seedlings of Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marcow.) were investigated. Additionally, in order to evaluate the reproductive potential of male and female gametes of the tetraploid Satsuma mandarin, reciprocal crosses with diploid cultivars were also carried out. The tetraploid had significantly thick and round leaves, as compared to those of the diploid Satsuma mandarin. The sizes of the flowers and pollen grains of the tetraploid were significantly larger than those of the diploid. Pollen fertility of tetraploid was high compared with that of the diploid. The tetraploid produced seedless fruits. The fruit weight of the tetraploid was equal to that of the diploid. Compared to the diploid fruits, the tetraploid fruit had less sugar contents and more organic acid contents. Although the tetraploid fruits showed similar traits to other Citrus tetraploids such as thick and hard peels, the tetraploid had a higher content of carotenoids in the flavedo than the diploid, and the rind color of the tetraploid was much better. In the reciprocal crosses between the tetraploid Satsuma mandarin and diploid cultivars, some seeds were obtained, and triploid progenies were obtained in all cross combinations.