Male performance in pistachio(Pistacia vera)

The Diversity of the Pollen Tube Pathway in Plants: Toward an Increasing Control by the Sporophyte

“…In other species with chalazogamy a different structure with a similar role has been described. In pistachio ( Pistacia vera) , a chalazogamous species ( Martinez-Palle and Herrero, 1998 ), concomitantly with the arrival of the pollen tubes to the base of the style, a protuberance (the ponticulus) develops in the uppermost area of the funiculus, filling the physical gap between the base of the style and the ovule ( Martinez-Palle and Herrero, 1994 ). A ponticulus has also been described in other species of the Anacardiaceae such as mango ( Mangifera indica ) ( Joel and Eisenstein, 1980 ; De-Wet et al, 1986 ; Bachelier and Endress, 2009 ).…”

Pollen effects on fruit and seed characteristics in pistachio (Pistacia vera L.)

“…Because P. atlantica blooms before P. Vera, dehydrated P. atlantica pollen was frozen and stored for 2 wk. Pollen quality was checked in vitro by germination tests on a 20% sucrose, 1% agar medium (Martinez-Pall6 & Herrero, 1994). On each female tree, 50 branches were selected and five of them randomly allocated to each pollinator, each branch having at least four inflorescences, and each inflorescence averaging 140 flowers (Martinez-PallC, 1993).…”

“…However, the present availability of a wider range of plant material provides the opportunity to select the best genotypes for particular growing conditions. In this regard, a study of several male genotypes from different geographical origins has shown a wide variability in flowering time and pollen production (Martinez-Pall6 & Herrero, 1994). Hormaza, Do110 & Polito (1994) have defined two main clusters in the existing pistachio germplasm, the Iranian-Caspian and the Mediterranean.…”