Comparative Embryological Studies on Infertility of Interspecific Hybridizations Between Oryza sativa with Different Ploidy Levels and O. officinalis

As maternal parents, diploid (L202-2x) and autotetraploid (L202-4x) of Oryza sativa cv. L202 were crossed with O. officinalis. Embryo development and fertilization in these two crosses were comparatively studied. There were no mature hybrid seeds obtained because all the hybridized spikelets died 30 days after pollination. The main reasons for no seed set were abnormal fertilization and development of the embryos and endosperms in the interspecific hybrids. There were double- fertilization, egg cell single-fertilization and non-fertilization in these crosses. Although 59.45% and 54.87% of hybrid embryos produced in the crosses of L202-2x/O. officinalis and L202-4x/O. officinalis, respectively, hybrid embryos ceased to develop or degenerated and plenty of free endosperm nuclei were in disaggregating state without developing cellular endosperms three days after pollination. Besides, some embryological differences in these two crosses were found, that is, the rate of double-fertilization and total rate of double- and single-fertilization in L202-2x/O. officinalis were higher than those in L202-4x/O. officinalis. The embryo and endosperm of hybrids developed more slowly, and embryos and free endosperm nuclei were more severely degenerated in L202-4x/O. officinalis than in L202-2x/O. officinalis. Five days after pollination, a few of embryos in L202-2x/O. officinalis developed into pear-shaped ones, however, embryos in L202-4x/O. officinalis were all degenerated. Therefore, it is more difficult to obtain interspecific hybrids by wide crosses between autotetraploid of O. sativa and O. officinalis.