MICROSPOROGENESIS OF SOUR CHERRIES IN THE SKOPJE REGION

Four sour cherry varieties, ‘Oblačinska’, ‘Sumadinka’, ‘Haiman’s’, and ‘Kelleris 14’, were studied to determine the time, duration and regularity of microsporogenesis, as influenced by climatic conditions (temperature and rainfall) in Skopje, Macedonia.
Generally, microsporogenesis occurred during March, ~30 days before the beginning of bloom.
When the sum of daily average temperatures after 1 February was higher and the sum of rainfall was lower, microsporogenesis began earlier, caused by a shorter duration of meiosis.
In the Skopje region, microsporogenesis was active at daily average temperatures of 7 to 9 °C. As a result of certain irregularities during division, pollen mother cells had various numbers, from 1 to 5, of micronuclei in Telophase I and Telophase II. They were most often the cells with one nucleus.
Irregular microspores ranged from 8.5 to 14.5 %. Dominant were irregular tetrads with 1 micronucleus, fewer with 2 and 3 micronuclei, and 4 micronuclei were found only in ‘Oblačinska’. Among the polyads present were pentads and hexads, and the triads were between 0.2 and 1%. Microsporogenesis began earliest in ‘Sumadinka’ and latest in ‘Haiman’s’; it was most regular in ‘Kelleris 14’ and most irregular in ‘Oblačinska’. Significant temperature variations and a dry period during meiosis in 1995 caused a higher incidence of irregularity in sour cherry pollen development.

IV International Cherry Symposium

M. Popovska, E. Angelova, B. Popovski

Prunus cerasus, flowering, telophase, micronucleus, microspore, climatic conditions

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.667.14