AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY, vol.9, no.33, pp.5347-5356, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
The methods of dihaploidization ensures important advantages in obtaining pure lines by rapid fixation of homozygosity. "Irradiated pollen technique" was used in this study. Disease resistant F1 hybrid variety candidates were utilized as the plant material. For the parthenogenetic induction, 300 Gray gamma irradiation were applied to the pollens and pollinations were conducted on the day after irradiation. Three different methods were used to extract seeds from the 3 to 4 weeks old fruits. The three methods: extracting the seeds one by one (M1), sowing the seeds in petri dishes (M2) and inspecting the seeds on the light box (M3) were compared. The pollination with the irradiated pollens resulted up to 94% fruit set. From the 204 fruits harvested, 280 haploid, 44 diploid and 8 mixoploid embryos were obtained. Germination rate of haploid was 96%. When the M1, M2 and M3 were compared, the required time for opening a fruit was found to be 162, 125 and 49 min, respectively. The M3 method was identified as the most successful, economic and effective. The results are expected to lower the cost and increase the effeciency of dihaploidization use in melon breeding.