Pollen quality and pollen productivity of blue honeysuckle species and varieties

Abstract

Studies to assess the pollen quality and pollen productivity of blue honeysuckle were conducted on the ecosystem dendrological territory of the Siberian Botanical garden of TSU (Tomsk). Objects of research: 8 varieties and 4 species of blue honeysuckle – ‘Velvet’, ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Ogneny Opal’, ‘Selena’, ‘Tomichka’, Lonicera altaica, L. edulis, L. kamtschatica, L. turczaninovii. It was found that the ‘Ogneny Opal’ and ‘Velvet’ varieties have low fertility, and the ‘Berel’ and L. edulis have an average fertility. Other varieties and species of honeysuckle have high pollen fertility. The viability of pollen with high values is more than 60 % – ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Lazurnaya’, L. turczaninovii, L. kamtschatica, with average values from 40% to 60 % – ‘Selena’, ‘Tomichka’ and L. altaica, with low values – less than 40 % – ‘Velvet’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Ogneny Opal’ and L. edulis. High pollen productivity – more than 20,000 pollen grains per flower – ‘Tomichka’, L. kamtschatica, L. turczaninovii and L. edulis, average productivity - from 10,000 to 20,000 pollen grains – ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Selena’ and L. altaica, low productivity – less than 10,000 pollen grains per flower – ‘Velvet’, ‘Ogneny Opal’. It is recommended to use at least 10% of varieties with high pollen viability and pollen productivity as pollinators when creating industrial honeysuckle plantations: ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, and ‘Berel’.