POLLEN VIABILITY AND MEIOTIC IRREGULARITIES IN A COLLECTION OF Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni CULTIVATED IN TUCUMÁN, ARGENTINA

Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni (2n=2x=22) (Asteraceae family) is a species of economic value due to the presence of steviol glycosides in leaves -mainly stevioside and rebaudioside A- which are non-caloric sugars. In 2013, a collection of plants (genotypes) from four contrasting environments was established in Tucumán, Argentina, for evaluation under local conditions and, eventually, breeding purposes. As a first step, pollen viability and meiosis was studied in a sample of 56 plants. The percentage of pollen viability varied from medium (69.4%) to high (99.6%) in 52 of them, but from low (36.5%) to relatively low (51.5%) in the remaining four. The latter four plants also presented pollen grains of heterogeneous size, which were classified as n (normal, the most frequent size in the sample), n. Abnormalities were observed in meiosis and at the tetrad stage. Pollen viability appears not to be a problem for planning crossing experiments within the collection. Moreover, the observation of parallel spindles at Anaphase II and dyads and triads at the tetrad stage entails the possibility of eventually exploring ploidy manipulations in breeding. Key words: Stevia, pollen viability, meiosis, sporads