Flower Biology and the Effects of Different Chemicals on Pollen Germination of Some Early Sweet Cherry Cultivars

Abstract

Sweet cherry fruit is a tasty and valuable product for consumers. In order to increase the export share of cherry, which is also very important in export, it is beneficial to grow with cherry varieties that mature at different times. The cherries offered to the market in the early period will be more attractive. In this study, morphological and biological features of pistils of early-maturing 'Cristalina', 'Early Lory', 'Prime Giant', fruit set rates and pollen germination status and some chemical applications were investigated. As a result, fruit sets of cultivars were 17.6-28.6% in two years. Significant differences were observed in pistil morphology of the cultivars and 'Cristalina' had shorter pistil (14.35-14.51 mm) and style (11.47-11.65 mm) lengths than the other cultivars. Greater deformation was observed in primary ovules of 'Early Lory' right after anthesis. There were not significant differences in pollen germination ratios of the cultivars, but boric acid treatments improved pollen germination ratios of all cultivars. Boric acid application increased pollen germination with 21%. This was followed by IAA (8%), GA3 (5%), KNO3 (4%). It was concluded based on present findings that in orchard establishment with the early cultivars, flower biology should momentously be assessed.