Study of chromosome composition of the southern Ural genotypes of Prunus pumila L. by various methods

Abstract

Prunus pumila L. is a winter-hardy Siberian species widely used in kitchen-gardens, as well as in nurseries as a seed stock for plums and apricots and development of hybrids for stocks of these cultures. Rare cases of emergence of polyploids among introduced seedlings are known. Chromosome numbers of 11 morphologically different plants of this species from Chelyabinsk Oblast were studied in comparison with some plants from Barnaul with already known ploidy by cytological and cytometric methods. With the help of both methods it was established that all plants from Chelyabinsk Oblast turned out to be diploids. Ploidy of the control specimens from Barnaul was supported by the cytometric method. A rare emergence of polyploids when introducing P. pumila in the climatic conditions differing from the natural ones was confirmed.