%0 Journal Article
%T A simplified method for differential staining of aborted and non-aborted pollen grains
%A Ross Peterson
%A Janet P. Slovin
%A Changbin Chen
%J International Journal of Plant Biology
%D 2010
%I PAGEPress Publications
%R 10.4081/pb.2010.e13
%X The ability to use chemical staining to discriminate aborted from non-aborted pollen grains has well-known practical applications in agriculture. A commonly used technique for assessing pollen vitality, Alexander¡¯s stain, uses chloral hydrate, phenol and mercuric chloride, all of which are highly toxic. We describe here an improved pollen staining technique that avoids the use of a regulated chemical chloral hydrate and two extremely toxic chemicals mercuric chloride and phenol, and requires a much shorter time period for sample preparation and staining. This simplified method is very useful for field studies without high-end equipments such as fluorescence microscopes. Samples can be collected and fixed in the fields and examined in a simple laboratory that has light microscopes.
%K pollen staining
%K Alexander¡¯s stain
%K chloral hydrate
%U http://www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/pb/article/view/1770