This work was conducted to confirm the chromosomes number of Gerbera hybrida Hort. cultivars, to determine the chromosomes number in the non commercial accessions of Gerbera sp., and to estimate the pollen viability and the possibility of crossings among different accessions. Root-tip and pollen were collected from six cultivars and seven non commercial accessions. The collected material was stained with acetic carmim at 45%. The chromosome counting was performed in metafasic intact cells and the pollen viability estimated by counting the number of viable and non viable pollen grains. The crossing possibility among cultivars and among cultivars and non commercial accessions was evaluated through the hybridization between the feminine cv. Terra Fame and A8 and masculine genitors, cvs. Cariba and Azteca. All accessions presented fifty chromosomes, indicating that the morphological variation in the capitulum (simple, semidouble and double) is not due to the chromosome number mutation or polyploidy. The evaluated accessions displayed high pollen viability, varying from 87.67% to 99.27. The seed formation was 4.46% in the crossings among cultivars, and 50% among cultivar and non commercial accession of gerbera. The genomic compatibility among the accessions, the high pollen viability and the success in the seed formation among commercial and non-commercial accessions, reveal the possibility of hybrid production with new allelic combination and transference of desirable traits from the non-commercial to the commercial accessions.
Gerbera sp.; cytogenetic; ornamental breeding; pollination
