THE INTERACTION EFFECTS OF BORON AND PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS ON POLLEN GERMINATION OF ALMOND

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different plant growth regulators, NAA (0 mg/l, 50 mg/l and 100 mg/l) and GA3 (0 mg/l, 50 mg/l and 100 mg/l), with various boron concentrations (0 mg/l, 50 mg/l and 100 mg/l) on pollen germination of ‘Saba’, ‘Rabie’ and ‘Padre’ almond cultivars in 10% sucrose and 1% agar medium at 24°C in dark conditions. The results showed that different treatments had significant effects on the percent of germination. The highest pollen germination (average 90.37%) for three almond cultivars was recorded in 100 mg/l boric acid, 10% sucrose and 1% agar medium. The lowest germination percentage (average 3.59%) was found in 50 mg/l NAA, sucrose 10 % and agar 1 % medium for all cultivars. Pollen germination rates significantly decreased with increasing growth regulators in almond cultivars. The pollen germination was greatly inhibited in media with GA3 and NAA or compound from these materials without boric acid. For example, mean pollen germination rates was %15.51 in 100 mg/l GA3+ 10% sucrose + 1% agar, while this value was 82.89% from the 100 mg/l GA3+100 mg/l Br+ 10% sucrose + 1% agar.