IN VITRO STUDIES ON POLLEN GERMINATION CAPABILITY AND PRESERVATION OF DIFFERENT CULTIVARS OF VITIS VINIFERA L.

Knowing pollen germination capability of the cultivars employed as male parents in breeding programs is very important.
This feature determines the final number of berries that can fully develop in a bunch as well as the efficiency with which hybrid seedlings are obtained.
Pollen preservation is another important factor to consider because pollen is usually employed to fertilise seed parents that bloom later.
In this work, we studied the influence of some compounds on pollen germination capability in vitro and its preservation in some table grape cultivars such as ‘Sugraone’, ‘Mistery’, ‘Autumn Royal’, and ‘Crimson Seedless’. The influence of temperature on pollen germination was also studied.
The results showed that the best medium for pollen germination contains 20% sucrose + 100 mg/L boric acid + 300 mg/L calcium nitrate.
Optimum temperature for pollen germination depended on the genotype, but in general ranged 25 to 30°C. We also studied the decay of germination capability in dry pollen stored at temperatures of -20°C, -40°C, and -80°C. The results showed that pollen stored at -80ºC maintains a good germination during the same season.

IX International Conference on Grape Genetics and Breeding

J. Carreño, R. Oncina, I. Carreño

table grape, pollen germination, pollen storage

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.827.85