Morphological and cytological features of auto polyploids

The general features are summarized below.

1. Polyploids have larger cell size than diploids. Guard cells of stomata are larger the number of stomata per unit area is less in polyploids than diploids.
2. Pollen grains of polyploids are generally larger than those of the corresponding diploids.
3. Polyploids are generally slower in growth and later in flowering.
4. Polyploids usually have larger and thicker leaves, and larger flowers and fruits which are usually less in number than in diploids.
5. Polyploids generally show reduced fertility due to irregularities during meiosis and due to genotypic imbalance leading to physiological disturbances.’
6. In many cases autopolyploidy leads to increased vigour and vegetative growth.
7. Different species have different levels of optimum ploidy. For sugarbeet the optimum level is 3x, sweet potato 6x while for timothy grass it is between 8-10x.
8. Autopolyploid generally have a lower dry matter content than diploids.