Caprification is the process of hanging caprifig fruits on edible fig trees to transfer the pollen inside the caprifig to the edible fig via the wasp (Blastophaga psenes) living in the caprifig. It needs to be repeated several times for the proper fruit set of edible figs. The present study was conducted to determine the change in the number of Blastophaga psenes, the duration of Blastophaga’s exit, and pollen viability in case the caprifigs to be used in the caprification process are stored until use. The number of Blastophaga and in vitro pollen viability were tested at day 0 (harvest day) and after 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 days of storage at three different temperatures (0, 4, and 8 °C). Afterwards, the effect of pollination frequency on the edible fig fruit set and quality was determined by using Blastophaga psenes as a vector in the pollination of stored caprifig fruits, pollinating five times with 4-day intervals and three times with 8-day intervals. Approximately a 50% reduction in the number of B. psenes was detected after 4 (180.22), 12 (174.11) and 16 (192.66) days of caprifigs storage at 0, 4, and 8 °C, respectively. The pollen germination percentage of the caprifigs increased with storage and was higher in those stored at 8 °C (43.96%) and 4 °C (41.70%). The highest fruit set was obtained when the caprifigs stored at 4 °C (76.41%) and 8 °C (71.38%) five times with 4-day intervals were used for pollination. The pollination practice repeated five times with 4-day intervals resulted in a lower proportion of extra-large fruits with a weight of >100 g, a higher proportion of fruits with no or slight ostiole damage and early ripening of fruits. These results suggest that B. psenes and pollen viability can be preserved by storing caprifigs at 4 or 8 °C and that fruit set and fruit characteristics would be positively affected with the use of stored caprifigs in the pollination practice repeated five times with 4-day intervals.

Bu çalışma çöğür anacı olarak kullanılan Kaman-1 ve Serr çeşitleri ile Keles genotipi üzerine aşılı ‘Chandler’ çeşidinin fenolojik, verim ve pomolojik özellikler yönünden incelenmesi amacıyla 2019-2021 yılları arasında yapılmıştır. Ağaçlarda fenolojik özellik olarak tomurcuk kabarması, tomurcuk patlaması, yapraklanma, erkek ve dişi çiçeklerde reseptiflik tarihleri kaydedilmiştir. . Meyvelerde pomolojik özellik olarak ise meyve ağırlığı, meyve büyüklüğü, randıman ve çürük-büzük oranı değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmada Keles üzerine aşılı ağaçlarda yapraklanma, erkek ve dişi çiçek oluşumu diğer anaçlara aşılı ağaçlara göre daha geç gerçekleşmiştir. Chandler çeşidinde anaçların etkisi önemli bulunmuş ve Kaman-1 ile Serr anacına aşılı ağaçlardan daha yüksek değerler elde edilmiştir. Anaçların meyve kalite özelliklerinden iç ağırlığı, randıman oranı, kabuk kalınlığı ve çürük meyve oranı üzerine etkisi olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Özellikle sert kabuklu meyvelerde ekonomik yönden önemli parametreler olarak kabul edilen yüksek randıman oranı ve düşük çürük meyve oranı yönünden Serr ve Keles anaçlarının daha iyi sonuçlar verdiği tespit edilmiştir. Çalışma sonuçları genel olarak değerlendirildiğinde verim ve meyve kalite parametreleri yönünden Serr anacının performansının araştırmada kullanılan diğer anaçlara göre daha iyi olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.

The caprification practice has been used widely in fig cultivation because it affects the yield and quality of fig fruits, a phenomenon known as the ‘xenia effect’. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of pollen sources on fruit sets and fruit quality in the ‘Bursa Siyahı’ fig cultivar in 2017 and 2018. The eleven male genotypes and five cultivars were used as pollen source. The findings obtained in the present study showed that pollen sources significantly affected fruit set, early fruiting rate, fruit size, ostiole width, skin and flesh thickness, titratable acidity (TA), pH, and soluble solids content (SSC). The fruit set ratio varied from 32.02% (‘16 03 06’) to 76.66% (‘16 08 07’), and fruit weight varied from 77.29 g (‘16 03 06’) to 106.88 g (‘16 00 01’) based on pollen sources. The ostiole diameter ranged from 3.84 mm (‘16 ZF 08’) to 7.67 mm (‘77 00 01’). The skin thickness ranged from 3.01 mm (‘Havran’) to 5.35 mm (‘16 00 01’). The principal component analysis was performed to distinguish the pollen sources for the ‘Bursa Siyahı’ cultivar. The analysis proposed that the most important factors affecting the fig quality can be reduced to five components. Fruit weight (0.958), skin thickness (0.810), flesh l* value (0.821), pH (-0.872), and SSC (0.836) value could be regarded as the characteristic indicators for PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, and PC5, respectively.  The results showed that ‘16 09 10’, ‘16 05 03’, ‘16 08 07’, and ‘16 08 12’ pollen sources are adequate pollinators for the edible ‘Bursa Siyahı’ fig.