Abstract:

Microscopic palynological observations and molecular marker analyses were conducted on 23 male persimmon germplasms collected from the Dabie Mountains to identify male germplasms that carry dominant genes associated with natural astringency loss in Chinese pollination-constant non-astringent（PCNA） persimmons. The pollen grains of the examined germplasms were nearly spherical，with polar axis lengths ranging from 32.78 μm to 42.93 μm and equatorial axis lengths from 33.60 μm to 44.29 μm. Scanning electron microscopy revealed distinct variations in exine ornamentation across the 23 germplasms，with germplasms such as Dabie Mountain Male 12 displaying a composite pattern. The DlSx-AF4S marker demonstrated a 100% identification accuracy for male germplasms，significantly outperforming the OGI marker，which showed only 70% accuracy. The RO2 marker successfully identified nine germplasms，including Dabie Mountain male 16，carrying dominant alleles linked to natural astringency loss，although these did not exhibit distinctive pollen morphological features.

Key words: persimmon, male genetic resources, palynology, molecular marker