Abdallah Aldahadha
National Agricultural Research Center, Jordan
Title: Viability and in vitro germination of pollen of six pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) cultivars grown in Maru Agricultural Station, Northern Jordan
Biography
Biography: Abdallah Aldahadha
Abstract
This study was conducted on six pistachio cultivars (Lazaourdi, Nab-El Jamal, Boundiki, Batouri, Marawhi and Aschouri) to investigate the percentage of pollen viability and in vitro germination. Pollen viability was tested by using 1% 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and 60% sucrose. In addition, in vitro germination medium was used to test pollen, which consisted of 1% agar, 15% sucrose and 100 ppm boric acid (H3BO3). The results indicated that there was a significant interaction between pollen viability of pistachio cultivars and storage period. The results showed that the fresh pollen of cultivars Batouri and Lazaourdi had significantly the highest viability (87%) and in vitro pollen germination (69.7%); respectively indicating that such cultivars could be used as best pollinators. On the other hand, cultivar Nab-El Jamal had the lowest viability (43.7%) and in vitro pollen germination (40.3%). Results of viability for all fresh pollen cultivars were poorly linearly correlated (r2=0.197) with the results of in vitro germination test. It was found that pollen viability for all cultivars were significantly reduced when pollen stored at 40℃ for one month. However, pollen germination percentage was zero for all pistachio cultivars after one month of storage. This finding suggests that the storage method in refrigerator (i.e: at 40℃) for one month is not effective for in vitro pollen germination. Hence, further research is required to examine pollen germination for less than a month under refrigerated conditions, which could be used for artificial pollination purposes.