Effect of Using Some Pollinators on Productivity of Some Olive Cultivars

Abstract

The present study was carried out during two successive growing seasons 2014 and 2015 in a private orchard located at Cairo-Alexandria desert road, 64 km from Cairo, to evaluate the efficiency of pollinator on productivity and quality attributes of eight olive cultivars, namely Aggizi, Dolce, Kalamata, Maraki, Coratina, koroneiki, Picual and Manzanillo. Ten year old olive trees, grown in sandy soil, planted at 6 X 3 meters apart and irrigated by the drip irrigation system were used for this investigation. The results revealed that, there were differences in the onset and duration of flowering among the studied cultivars in both seasons. The earliest cultivar in flowering was Aggizi, while the latest cultivar in this respect was Kalamata Cv. in both seasons. Regarding flowering duration, it was observed that the studied cultivars overlapped in their blooming period where it is varied between 15 and 20 days in 2014 and 14-18 days in 2015. The highest perfect flower percentage was observed in Dolce and Coratina Cvs. With respect to self-incompatibility index, Aggizi, Dolce, Maraki and Koroneiki were self-compatible. Then, Picual and Coratina Cvs. recorded partially self-incompatible, whereas, Kalamata and Manzanillo Cvs. recorded higher degree of selfincompatibility,Cross pollination induced the best results with regard to fruit set %, and fruit weight and oil content in most olive cultivars. It can be recommended that, the suitable pollinator for each cultivar were as follows: Maraki and Aggizi were good pollinators for each other, Koroneiki for Dolce, Manzanillo and Picual. Finally, Dolce was a good pollinator for Kalamata, Coratina and Koroneiki.

Pollen production in olive cultivars and its interannual variability

“…An elevated pollen production capacity of olive cultivars is crucial to guarantee an optimum fruit set, especially in new olive-growing areas with no airborne olive pollen from surrounding orchards ( Reale et al , 2006 ; El-Soda et al , 2017 ). In fact, even in traditional olive-growing areas, the use of several cultivars as pollen donors has been related to a fruit set increase ( El-Soda et al , 2017 ; Rallo et al , 2018 ; Gencer et al, 2023 ).…”

“…An elevated pollen production capacity of olive cultivars is crucial to guarantee an optimum fruit set, especially in new olive-growing areas with no airborne olive pollen from surrounding orchards ( Reale et al , 2006 ; El-Soda et al , 2017 ). In fact, even in traditional olive-growing areas, the use of several cultivars as pollen donors has been related to a fruit set increase ( El-Soda et al , 2017 ; Rallo et al , 2018 ; Gencer et al, 2023 ). Despite these facts, there have been few studies characterizing the pollen production capacity of olive cultivars and its possible variability over years ( Tous et al, 2004 ; Mazzeo et al , 2014 ; Rojo et al , 2015 ).…”