Application of Pollen Medium in Burley Tobacco Hybrid Seed Production

In order to reduce cost and save pollen in burley tobacco hybrid seed production, application of soluble starch as pollen medium with different proportions of pollen used in pollination was studied and fruit rate, fruit grain number, thousand-grain weight, seed yield and seed quality were recorded. The results showed that when the pollen and soluble starch ratio was 1:4-5, the average fruit rate was 81.35% to 81.81%, with single capsule seed grain number 2838-2862, thousand-grain weight 82-89 mg, seed production 226.29-226.67 kg/ha, and seed germination rate 93.1% to 93.2%. Compared with the pure pollen control the appraisal indexes had no significant difference, and seed yield and seed quality were not affected. This is thus an acceptable medium/pollen percentage that could minimize pollen usage, saving 80%-83% of pollens.