Assessment of Pollen Viability and Germinability in Some European Chestnut Genotypes (Castanea sativa L.)

Abstract

Pollen viability and germinability in some European chestnut genotypes was assessed in this study. In 10 chestnut genotypes, percentages of pollen viability were generally high and often around or over 80%. The pollen germination percentages of the genotypes were significantly affected by media sucrose concentrations. At optimum sucrose concentrations pollen germination percentages varied between 21.97 and 43.68% in 2004, 3.95 and 31.97% in 2005 and 6.79 and 31.03% in 2006, across all genotypes. The highest pollen germination percentage was obtained from 10% sucrose concentration in all years. Although, in 2006, a highly marked positive correlation (r = 0.80) was determined for the viability and germination percentages, no significant relation between the viability and germination percentages (r = -0.54 and r = -0.05, respectively) was found in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 and 2006, germination percentages declined compared to 2004.