DETERMINATION OF POLLEN VIABILITY AND POLLEN GERMINATION CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME SHARKA DISEASE RESISTANT APRICOT CULTIVARS

Abstract

Turkey is leading the apricot production in the world and also has an important genetic diversity. With the advantage of having different ecological conditions, apricots are produced for different purposes (early table, table, jam, dry). Biotic and abiotic stress factors affect the apricot production of important value, causing yield and quality losses. Apricots’ most important problems in breeding are low fruit yield, spring late frosts, and self-incompatibility in some cultivar, diseases and pests. In these factors, Plum Pox Virus (PPV) the agent of the sharka disease is the most important disease in the apricot and stone fruits with the lost odf production and social effects it made. The best solution for this disease is using resistant cultivars in production. At this point, breeding programs especially including the sharka resistant cultivars are important. For breeding programs, determining pollinator cultivars' pollen quality parameters is important. In this study, pollen viability and pollen germination parameters are determined for “Stark Early Orange” (SEO), “Harleyne”, “Harcot” and “Zard” cultivars. These cultivars are resistant to sharka and may be used in breeding studies as pollinators. Pollen viability was determined with 2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and pollen germination was determined with agar in the Petri (1% Agarose and 10% sucrose) method. The cultivar with the highest pollen viability rate (57.8%) is SEO. “Harcot” had the least amount of pollen viable with 28.3%. “Harleyne” cultivar had the best germination rate with 69.8%. Harcot had the lowest pollen germination rate (19.8%). According to the results, there were significant differences among cultivars in the pollen viability and germination rates.