In vitro pollen germination in stone fruit tree of Rosaceae family

Abstract

In the tone fruit trees including almond, apricot, plum, prune, sour cherry and sweet cherry, pollen performance includes pollen quantity produced in a flower and pollen quality consists of viability, longevity, morphological homogeneity, pollen germination and pollen tube growth rate which are very important component of fertilization and fruit setting. However, study of pollen traits is one of the most important approaches for growers and breeders. In this research, main pollen traits including germination and tube growth were investigated in some selected cultivars of Prunus species including P. dulcis, P. armeniaca, P. domestica, P. ceracus, P. salicina and P. avium. Pollen traits of 5 cultivars from each species were studied using the in vitro medium containing 15% sucrose, 1% agar 5 ppm H3BO3 (boric acid). Pollens were planted in the in vitro medium inside the Petri-dishes and incubated at the constant temperature of 24°C for 24 h and then, pollen germination and growth were protected by adding chloroform. Data analysis showed that in all of the studied traits significant differences were observed among six species and cultivars of each species. Key words: Almond, apricot, plum, prune, sour cherry, sweet cherry, Rosaceae, pollen viability, in vitro.