Learn Why Germination Assays are Outdated
Pollen quality plays an important role in plant breeding and seed production. In-vitro germination is often regarded as the gold standard method for assessing pollen viability.
In a recent industry study on tomato pollen (Solanum lycopersicum) in-vitro germination and Impedance Flow Cytometry on the Ampha Z32 Pollen Analyzer were compared.
The conclusion of this study are:
- Impedance Flow Cytometry (IFC) and germination show a good correlation when the correct pollen sample preparation and germination conditions are applied.
- IFC method is more accurate, less prone to bias and significantly faster. For the analysis of 100 samples a time savings of at least 10 hours is achieved.
- For optimal results, a controlled rehydration process of 30 min needs to be applied
If you are interested in the details of this comparison, please check out our Application Note.