Articles
The onset of controlled hybridization, pollination studies and the history of pollinizer application in the commercial fruit tree orchards in Iran
Article number
1297_19
Pages
137 – 144
Language
English
Abstract
In the modern commercial orchards management, the effective pollination and use of suitable pollinizer is an important task for producing the optimum crop yield.
In spite of the long history of fruit culture and the rich of fruit tree germplasm in Iran, the onset of hybridization, pollination studies and the history of pollinizer application in the commercial fruit tree orchards is short, came back to 1987. The first proposal for effective pollination studies project had been submitted to University of Tehran, in the framework of MSc thesis in pomology and fruit tree breeding.
The title of the project was ‘Selection of the best pollinizer for sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivar ‘Siah Mashad’, had been conducted in the commercial sweet cherry orchard, 20 km west of Tehran, during the 1987 to 1988 growing seasons, completed and reported in February, 1989. The mature 15 years old sweet cherry trees were used with no or very low fruit yield (1 to 2 kg tree-1), planted in the 5 m between rows and 6 m within rows on ‘Mahlab’ rootstock.
Note that four pollinizers were determined for ‘Siah Mashad’ cultivar.
In 1988, sweet cherry trees in the mentioned studied orchard top worked and the specific determined pollinizer were grafted on the 10% of the planted trees, resulted in the dramatic increase in fruit yield in the following years up to 80 kg tree-1. In order to continue the pollination study for increasing crop yield of commercial orchards, the pomology laboratory was established in 1995 in the Department of Horticultural Science at Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran.
In conclusion, the output of the first pollination study in 1987, in addition with the continuing flowering and pollination research in the Pomology Lab. at TMU with the effective collaboration with the other universities and research institutes led to a dramatic increase of the knowledge of applied pollination technology and pollinizer use in the commercial orchards during the last three decades.
In the recent years and at present any new established orchard in Iran, managing with proper pollinizer arrangement and application.
In spite of the long history of fruit culture and the rich of fruit tree germplasm in Iran, the onset of hybridization, pollination studies and the history of pollinizer application in the commercial fruit tree orchards is short, came back to 1987. The first proposal for effective pollination studies project had been submitted to University of Tehran, in the framework of MSc thesis in pomology and fruit tree breeding.
The title of the project was ‘Selection of the best pollinizer for sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivar ‘Siah Mashad’, had been conducted in the commercial sweet cherry orchard, 20 km west of Tehran, during the 1987 to 1988 growing seasons, completed and reported in February, 1989. The mature 15 years old sweet cherry trees were used with no or very low fruit yield (1 to 2 kg tree-1), planted in the 5 m between rows and 6 m within rows on ‘Mahlab’ rootstock.
Note that four pollinizers were determined for ‘Siah Mashad’ cultivar.
In 1988, sweet cherry trees in the mentioned studied orchard top worked and the specific determined pollinizer were grafted on the 10% of the planted trees, resulted in the dramatic increase in fruit yield in the following years up to 80 kg tree-1. In order to continue the pollination study for increasing crop yield of commercial orchards, the pomology laboratory was established in 1995 in the Department of Horticultural Science at Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran.
In conclusion, the output of the first pollination study in 1987, in addition with the continuing flowering and pollination research in the Pomology Lab. at TMU with the effective collaboration with the other universities and research institutes led to a dramatic increase of the knowledge of applied pollination technology and pollinizer use in the commercial orchards during the last three decades.
In the recent years and at present any new established orchard in Iran, managing with proper pollinizer arrangement and application.
Authors
K. Arzani
Keywords
fruit orchards, applied pollination technology, fruit yield, sweet cherry, controlled pollination, compatibility and pollination studies, fruit tree germplasm
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