Vitality and in vitro pollen germination of different ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry clones

Vitality of pollen, in vitro pollen germination and pollen tube growth (pollen tube length and pollen tube growth rate) were investigated in Oblačinska sour cherry in order to determine the differences between clones which have divergent yielding potential. For this purpose two ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry clones with high fruit set and high yields (II/2, III/9) and two with low fruit set and low-yielding (XI/3 and XIII/1) were used in this study. Pollen germination was done on artificial medium containing 14% sucrose and 0.3% agar-agar at room temperature (23°C). Pollen tube growth was stopped with a drop of 40% formaldehyde, 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h after contact with the medium. The maximum percentage of germination ranged from 13.01% (clone II/2, after 1 h) to 54.19% (clone III/9, after 24 h). Pollen tube length varied from 64.84 μm (clone XIII/1, after 1 h) to >1,100 μm (clones II/2 and III/9, after 24 h). Pollen growth rate was quite high (up to 1.71 μm min-1) after 6 h of germination, but rather decreasing until 24 h of germination (0.56-0.83 μm min-1). The dynamics of in vitro pollen tubes growth among the clones were quite different, especially after 12 h and 24 h of germination. Clones that are singled out as fruitful (II/2 and III/9) gave much better results regarding pollen germination and pollen tube growth in comparison to clones which were characterized by low fruit set and yields (XI/3 and XIII/1). [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. TR 31063