Preliminary evaluation of artificial pollination in pistachio using pollen suspension spray

摘要

Pistachio trees (Pistacia vera L.) are dioecious and pollination is necessary in order to get filled nuts. The effects of suspension media containing agar (A) and boric acid (B) combined with either 0.05% or 0.15% (w/v) pollen (P) used for spray pollination on pollen grain viability were investigated in pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) cv. Owhadi. We also evaluated the effects of spray pollination on fruit set, fruit and kernal quality. The pollen grain viability was measured by germination rates. It was determined that the pollen grain has the ability of germination in suspension media and the pollen grain germination percentage significantly increased by the application of the media containing agar and boric acid as compared with other media. Application of medium containing agar (A) and 0.01 % boric acid (B1) combined with 0.15% (w/v) pollen (P2) produced better fruit set than suspension media without boric acid. The medium containing agar and 100 mg L -1 boric acid combined with 0.05% (w/v) pollen increased fresh and dry weight of kernel. Moreover the pollination treatments affected kernel nutrient elements concentration so that highest concentration of the kernel P, Ca, Mg, Cu and Fe were obtained with spray pollination method. Our finding showed that the spray pollination may be the effective method in pistachio trees.