Morphological anomalies in pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Hamil.) pollen grains under high doses of zinc

The morphology of pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Hamil.) pollen grains was studied after adding zinc to the substrate in doses of. 0, 1, 500 and 1000 mg/pot. The observations were carried out using both light and scanning electron microscopy. The largest pollen grains were found at a dose of 500 mg/pot. Approximately 10% of the grains with such abnormalities in sporoderm structure as various types of swellings, mostly ring-shaped, were found under high concentrations of Zn (500 and 1000 mg/pot). The greatest number of deformed grains (over 40%), deeply plicated or strongly flattened, were observed at the dose of 1000 mg Zn. All of the described deformations related to excess Zn are documented photographically.