DESCRIPTION OF A NEW-TYPE OF MEIOTIC ABNORMALITY IN MAIZE (ZEA-MAYS L)

Three plants of a hybrid resulting from a double-cross of maize out of 35 plants analyzed exhibited a new type of meiotic abnormality. In th ese plants, meiosis had a normal course up to diakinesis. Starting fro m this phase there was disorganization of the process due to the absen ce of a spindle. The ten bivalents were scattered at random and there was no chromosome segregation. Meiosis went from diakinesis directly t o telophase, skipping the remaining phases. Telophases with a number o f nuclei ranging from 3 to 10 were observed. As a consequence of these irregularities, the final product of meiosis presented phenomena rang ing from microspore triads to microspore polyads of different sizes.