Pollen Performance of ‘Red Lake’ and ‘Rosenthal’ Currant (Ribes rubrum) Cultivars

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to test the performance of the pollen grains of ‘Red Lake’ and ‘Rosenthal’ blackcurrant varieties. Pollen morphological homogeneity ratio, pollen viability ratio and germination rate at different temperatures were investigated.Material and Methods: In this study, pollen germination, viability and quality of pollens belongs to ‘Red Lake’ and ‘Rosenthal’ currant cultivars were studied. For the fertilization biology studies, phenologic observations were first noted. In order to determine the pollen performance, morphological homogeneity, pollen viability (TTC staining test) and germination rates (agar in plate) were determined. In addition, the effect of different temperature conditions (15 °C, 20 0C, 25 0C, 30 0C) on pollen germination was noted and the most suitable germination temperature was determined for each cultivar. The effect of different incubation times (6h, 12h, 24h, 48h) on germination capacity was also determined.Results: Morphological homogeneity value of the pollen of the two cultivars was quite high and higher pollen viability should be obtained from morphologically homogenous pollens. Effect of different temperatures on pollen germination percentage was found to be statistically different (p<0.05) for both cultivars.Conclusions: 150C was the optimum temperature to obtain the highest pollen germination for ‘Red Lake’ while 200C was the optimum for ‘Rosenthal’ pollen grains. Increasing incubation period for both cultivars increased overall pollen germination rate.