In vitro germination of wheat pollen on raffinose medium

summary Wheat pollen gave up to 81.7 % germination when cultured on a 0.7 % agar medium containing 100 mg 1 −1 H 3 BO 3 , 300 mg 1 −1 CaCl 2 .2H 2 O and 0.75 M raffinose. On this medium at 25°C, germination started within 5 min and tubes reached a mean maximum length of 200 μm after 1 h. Maltose supported 27.9% germination, while sucrose gave at most 6.8%. Pollen on media with fructose, galactose, dextrose or lactose failed to germinate.