FRUIT SET OF SWEET CHERRY ‘GOMILICKA’ IS INFLUENCED BY POLLEN DONOR GENOTYPE

Compatibility relationships among sweet cherry cultivars are of great impor-tance for fruit set.
Pollen donor genotype affects pollen tube growth dynamics through the pistil.
In this experiment, the traditionally grown cultivar ‘Gomilička’ was used as the pollen acceptor while traditional ‘Stonska’ and introduced cultivars ‘Isabella’ and ‘Starking Hardy Giant’ were used as pollen donors (pollenizers). Pollen germination in vitro was tested in a germination medium that consisted of 15% sucrose + 1% agar.
In vivo experiments started with flower emasculation and isolation of branches one day before flowering.
At full bloom, flowers of ‘Gomilička’ were pollinated and pistils were collected and fixed 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h, and 120 h after pollination.
Squashed pistils were observed using a fluorescent microscope.
For each treatment, the percen¬tage of styles travelled by the longest pollen tube and the number of tubes in the ovary were determined.
Fruit set was recorded just before harvest.
The pollen germination rates varied between 68.4% (‘Isabella’) to 79.5% (‘Starking Hardy Giant’). The lowest ‘Gomilička’ fruit set was with ‘Stonska’ (15%), whereas fruit set was significantly increased with ‘Starking Hardy Giant’ (41%) and ‘Isabella’ (28%). Significantly more pollen tubes reached the ovary following pollination with ‘Starking Hardy Giant’ (3.3% after 96 h and 5% after 120 h) in comparison to ‘Stonska’ (0.4% after 96 h and 2.5% after 120 h).

VI International Cherry Symposium

M. Radunić, S. Goreta Ban, G. Vuletin Selak, A. Jazbec, Z. Čmelik

self-incompatible, cultivar, pistil, pollen tube growth, pollenizer, Prunus avium L.

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1020.6