| DEFINITION |
"Observed under a microscope at magnification 10x10 after staining with 1% iodine potassium iodide (IKI) solution. Samples for pollen are collected from anthers and fixed in 70% alcohol. Two to three anthers are extracted from each floret and pollen grains are squeezed out into the IKI solution drop. At least three fields are used to count the sterile pollen grains; unstained withered, unstained spherical and partially stained round and fertile, from stained round pollen grains. Percentage sterility is calculated as = (unstained withered+unstained spherical+partially stained) x 100/total number of pollen grains in the field including the fertile." [Gramene:pankaj_jaiswal, IRRI:SES] |