Abstract

Iran is one of the most important producers of almond, apricot and sweet cherry known as stone fruits belong to genus Prunus of Rosaceae family. Most of the stone fruit trees are gametophytically self-incompatible which makes necessary the selection of favorable pollinizer in orchard planning programs for producing positive crop. However, study of main pollen traits is one of the most important issues for growers and breeders. In this research, main pollen traits including germination, tube growth and longevity were investigated in some favorable selected genotypes of three Prunus species including almond, apricot and sweet cherry. Pollen traits of five genotypes from each species were studied after six weeks storage in 4°C using the in vitro medium containing 10% sucrose and 1.2% agar. Pollen Germination Percentage (PGP) and Pollen Tube Length (PTL) were studied by Light-Microscope. Analysis of data was showed significant differences among the species and genotypes. PGP and PTL were normal after six weeks storage in 4°C especially; in almond and sweet cherry genotypes which showed high PGP and PTL in compared with apricot genotypes. Finally, the best genotypes of each species were selected for orchard establishment and breeding programs.

Key words: Rosaceae family, almond, apricot, cherry, pollen traits and in vitro.