ISHS Acta Horticulturae 437: VII International Symposium on Pollination
USING PATERNITY TESTS AND YIELD RATIOS TO MEASURE EFFECTS OF SUPPLEMENTAL POLLINATION |
| Author: | T.E. Ferrari |
| Abstract:
Unfavorable conditions during bloom often cause managers of fruit and nut crops to try improving cross-pollination by various means. Split-block experimental designs used to monitor the effects of supplemental pollination on fertilization are unreliable and difficult to perform. Paternity tests and yield ratio analysis are new techniques which independently facilitate evaluation of extra pollen on yield. Almond (Prunus amygdalus) production was examined after application of pollen to honey bees (Apis mellifera) during bloom. Pollens containing unique genetic traits were transferred to flowers by foragers and resulted in nut set. Selective pollination was achieved by use of pollen incompatible with one cultivar or performing enpollination when only one cultivar was in bloom. First, paternity tests performed on embryos measured what percent of the crop came from the extra pollen and evaluated the success of a supplemental pollination practices. Second, historical production of two untreated cultivars grown in the same field were compared with yield ratios of the same cultivars after treatment of one of them. Changes in ratios enabled an increase in crop production to be qualified. Yield ratios greatly reduced the environmental component of variability associated with analysis of year-to year production. | |
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