Assessment of Clonal differences in Poplar (Populus deltoides) by Virtual Microscopy using Foldscope

Author: Anup Raj, Immad A. Shah*, Ashfaq A. Mir and Amjad M. Hussaini

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Abstract

Populus deltoids is a commercially important, dioecious tree species grown widely in the Kashmir valley. Female plants produce huge amounts of cottony seed that pose respiratory problems. Morphologically, females are indistinguishable from the male plants until the plants attain sexual maturity in 5-8 years. Molecular technology can help detect the sex of genotypes in the initial stages, but these technologies require not only resources but are also not affordable in resource-limited environments. In the present study, we tried to find out differences in stomatal density among male and female clones of P. deltoids with the help of a foldscope. Five male and five female clones of the species were raised in a replicated trial. The average stomatal density in the mature leaves of one year old seedlings was found 379.98mm-2. There was no statistically significant difference in the stomatal density in upper and lower leaf surfaces. However, the stomatal density on the lower leaf surface in

Keywords

Populus deltoides, stomatal density, foldscope, male clones, female clones.

Conclusion

The findings of the study reveal that foldscope can be used to estimate stomatal density in trees. We also found a significant difference in stomatal density between male and female clones of Populus deltoides. Thus the technique can be used to develop an easy, field-based tool to distinguish female clones from male clones in the nursery stage well before the plants attain sexual maturity.

References

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How to cite this article

Anup Raj, Immad A. Shah*, Ashfaq A. Mir and Amjad M. Hussaini (2022). Assessment of Clonal differences in Poplar (Populus deltoides) by Virtual Microscopy using Foldscope. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(1): 1258-1261.