Cytogenetics of Pennisetum purpureum Schumack x Pennisetum glaucum L. hybrids and their parents

Abstract

Cytogenetic studies were carried out on five accesses of interspecific hybrids of Pennisetum purpureum and Pennisetum glaucum and their parentals, which are part of the Forage Germplasm Bank of the "Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Gado de Leite" of EMBRAPA, Brazil. The mitotic cytogenetic analysis, performed using stain by Schiff reactive, confirmed the chromosome number of 2n = 14, 28 and 21 for the accesses of P. glaucum, P. purpureum and their hybrids, respectively. For each access, descriptions of the chromosome complement and idiograms are presented which allowed to establish the karyotypic relationships between the hybrids and their parentals. Based on the total chromosomal length data it was possible to establish the karyotype classification of the accesses concerning symmetry. While the karyotype of P. glaucum accesses was considered symmetric, hybrids presented asymmetric karyotypes. For P. purpureum, two accesses (BAGs 63 and 75) showed symmetric karyotype and three (BAGs 54, 65 and 91) were asymmetric. For the interspecific hybrids it was possible to infer the origin of some parental chromosomes based on the total chromosomal length measurements, satellite presence and chromosome morphology.