Pollen viability and germination capacity of sweet cherry cultivars in the climate conditions of Romanian Northeastern area

Abstract

This study presents the germination capacity and the pollen viability of ten sweet cherry cultivars (‘Regina’, ‘Kordia’, ‘Bucium’, ‘Cătălina’, ‘Cetățuia’, ‘George’, ‘Golia’, ‘Maria’, ‘Marina’ and ‘New Star’) registered on climatic conditions and phenological evolution of 2021. The phenological stages followed from bud burst to the end of flowering, were between April 5th (‘Regina’) and May 4th (‘New Star’), with an average value of 21.3 days. Determination of pollen viability recorded average percentage values of 64.3% and a germination capacity of 74.5% with a medium coefficient of variation (11.29% respectively 15.86%). The significant differences among pollen viability and germination ability were recorded for all cultivars. The results showed that the sum of the degrees of active temperature during the flowering have important influence to obtain high percentage values of pollen viability and germination capacity.

Prunus avium L., pollen, germination, flowering stage, cultivars