Hybridization efficiency of two crossing methods (involving emasculation by hot water or by anther aspiration), was determined in rice. Quantitative comparisons between crossing methods for pure line breeding are scarce and the objectives of this work were to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of emasculation methods, and to determine an adequate temperature for hot water emasculation. H...

Males of sexually cannibalistic spiders commonly mutilate parts of their paired genitals (palps) during copulation, which may result in complete emasculation or the 'eunuch phenomenon'. In an orb-web nephilid spider, Nephilengys malabarensis, about 75 per cent of males fall victim to sexual cannibalism, and the surviving males become half-eunuchs (one palp emasculated) or full-eunuchs (both pal...

Grain amaranths (Amaranthus spp.) have been cultivated for thousands of years in Central and South America. Their grains are of high nutritional value, but the low yield needs to be increased by selection of superior genotypes from genetically diverse breeding populations. Amaranths are adapted to harsh conditions and can be cultivated on marginal lands although little is known about their phys...

Several clades of spiders whose females evolved giant sizes are known for extreme sexual behaviors such as sexual cannibalism, opportunistic mating, mate-binding, genital mutilation, plugging, and emasculation. However, these behaviors have only been tested in a handful of size dimorphic spiders. Here, we bring another lineage into the picture by reporting on sexual behavior of Darwin's bark sp...

producing hybrid lettuce is prevented by flower structure and usually lead to selfing. based on it, this experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance of different physical and chemical emasculation methods for producing lettuce hybrid seed. a numbers of cultivars with dominant and recessive traits were used as male and female parents, respectively. in the first experiment, physical em...

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a tree in the subfamily Faboideae, native to North America, that has been naturalized and widely planted in temperate Europe and Asia. Black locust has important ecological and economic value, but its quality needs improvement. Hybridization programs are important for black locust breeding, but the low rate of fruit set after controlled pollination limits ...