Abstract

Pollination and fertilization are the basic factors affecting fruit setting volume and pollination is an essential component in fruit tree cultivation. The most important goal for fruit growers is obtaining high quantities and qualities yield in fruit industry which depends on sufficient fruit setting. Commercial fruit trees in Iran belong to stone and pome fruits of Rosaceae family with gametophytic self-incompatibility make necessary the selection of favorable pollinizer in breeding and orchard planning programs. Therefore, knowledge about pollen traits of the species and cultivars in this family is one of the main issues for growers and breeders. In this research, pollen germination and tube growth were studied in some cultivars and selected favorable genotypes of 6 genus including; apple, pear loquat, medlar, red hawthorn and quince. Pollen traits were investigated using in vitro medium containing 17% sucrose, 10 ppm acid boric and 1.2% agar. Cultured pollens were incubated in dark condition at 25°C for 24 h and then, pollen germination percentage and pollen tube length evaluated using light-microscope. Results showed significant differences among cultivars and finally favorable cultivars/genotypes of each genus with high pollen germination percentage and tube growth were selected to application in the future breeding and orchard establishment programs.
 
Key words: Apple, pear, quince, loquat, medlar, red hawthorn, pollen germination, Rosaceae and in vitro condition.