Pollen viability and meiotic analysis of Solanum commersonii commersonii Dun., Solanum commersonii malmeanum Bitt. and Solanum tuberosum L.

Meiotic abnormalities in potato hamper sexual recombination, due to their influence on pollen production andviability rate. In this study we evaluated pollen viability and meiosis of three clones of Solanum commersonii commersoniiDun. (SCC), two of Solanum commersonii malmeanum Bitt. (SCM) and seven clones and four cultivars of Solanum tuberosumL., with the purpose of indicating promising genotypes for genetic breeding of potato. Early chromosome migration atmetaphases I and II and chromosome pairing anomalies were the main causes of pollen inviability in the evaluated genotypes.Clones SCC 07 and SCM 60 are the most suitable for sexual recombination, owing to the high percentage of viable pollengrains and low frequencies of meiotic abnormalities.