How the application of supporting substances affects the formation of fertile embryos of crossbred cherries and its germination

Abstract

The seeds of early ripening cherry cultivars are generally of poor quality, thereby adversely affect the success of the entire breeding process. The current study aimed to examine the application of supporting substances, such as brown algae extract (ALGA), humic and fulvic acids + IAA (LEXIN), and gibberellic acid (GA3), in the blooming and ripening of fruits. Successively, the same substances were applied to seeds within laboratory conditions, to enhance the quality of cherry embryos and promote their germination. For comparison, two cultivars, an early one ‘Burlat’ and late ‘HL 13577’ were used in a multi-year trial. The application of GA3 at the time of blooming in the ‘Burlat’ cultivar had a positive effect on increasing the share of harvested fruits (31.6%), reduction of the share of bad seeds (17.7%) and improving seed germination (21.9%), compared to the untreated control. Cultivar ‘HL 13577’ had 16.6% of developed fruits, 15.0% share of bad seeds and seed germination 9.8%. No remarkable increase in germination was observed in any tested variants after the secondary application of preparations in the laboratory. The impact of the year was most explicit in the proportionality of developed fruits, while its effect on seed germination post-treatment remained uncertain. On the contrary, the treatment exhibited a greater effect on germination testing. Based on these findings, we conclude that direct application of GA3 to the trees (from blooming to fruit harvesting) in the orchard was beneficial. However, the other substances tested did not produce positive effects on the parameters.