Effect of pollen-style interaction on the pollen tube growth of Gossypium hirsutum.

All possible crosses among 5 strains of Gossypium hirsutum were made, and the pollen tubes were grown in vivo for 4 h before being fixed, stained and measured. Temperatures ranging from 18.5 to 40.0 °C were tested for pollen germination and pollen tube growth. The optimal temperature for pollen tube growth was 30.0 °C. Relative humidity levels of 0 to 100% were used as a pre-pollination treatment of the pollen. Significant differences among the mean pollen tube length of the strains occurred due to pollenXstyle interactions. The strains also differed in the number of styles which did not support pollen tube growth. These differences were also due to pollenXstyle interactions. Pollen and style strains could be ranked according to their relative contribution to pollen tube length.