Stomatal Density and Length for Breeding of Evergreen Azaleas (Rhododendron simsii Planch.)

The hentability of stomatal density and stomatal length has been studied for four evergreen azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch.) cultivars with the aim to evaluate the possibilities of stomatal characteristics of parental plants for increasing the crown diameter – hence yield – of the offspring., A nearly complete diallel cross with reciprocals has been carried out with the four parental cultivars. Highly significant general combining ability (GCA) values of the parents were found for stomatal length and density, but not for the crown diameter. GCA values of crown diameters did not correspond with GCA values of either stomatal length or stomatal density. Therefore it was concluded that utilizing stomatal characteristics as a selection tool for an increased crown diameter (yield) in azalea., may not be feasible. Differences in crown diameter could not be explained from correlations with either stomatal density or stomatal length.     

Inheritance of net photosynthesis,dark respiration,stomatal resistance and related characters in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) under low energy conditions

Summary Inheritance of net photosynthesis, dark respiration, specific leaf fresh weight, and stomatal resistance was studied in a diallel cross without reciprocals with 15 tomato genotypes. The plants were grown under low light intensity (24 Wm^-2), short days (8 h) and low temperature (19 °C/10 °C day/night temperature). Significant f-values for GCA were observed for all characters. Smaller, but for most characters also significant f-values for SCA were found. This indicated that the characters were mainly controlled by additive gene action. The relationships between the physiological characters and breeding aspects are discussed.