Investigations on the Fertilization Biology of some Summer Apple Varieties

Authors: Sinan ETİ, Nurettin KAŞKA, Ali KÜDEN, Mürevvet ILGIN

Abstract: In this study, fertilization biology of 3 summer apple varieties, namely "Summerred", "Jerseymac" and "Raritan", grown in Pozanti ecological conditions, was investigated. For this purpose, the pollen viability, germination capacity and production level of these 3 apple varieties were tested in vitro. The percentage of fruit-set obtained from free, self and cross-pollination experiments performed in vivo. In order to determine the parthenocarpic fruit setting ability, the flowers were emasculated and isolated. Additionally, the fruit-sizes were determined and the number of seeds per fruit were counted in all experiments. As far as the pollen viability, production level and morphological homogenity of pollen were concerned the "Raritan" variety gave the best results. In 20 % sucrose concentration, which is the best medium for all 3 varieties, pollen germination rates were changed between 54.32 % and 64.42 %. In vivo studies "Summerred" was found to be the best pollinator variety for "Jerseymac" and "Raritan". On the other hand "Raritan" was found to be the best polinator for "Summerred". In addition "Raritan" showed a limited ability to set parthenocarpic fruit whereas, other 2 varieties have no parthenocarpic fruit setting capacity.

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