ISHS Acta Horticulturae 470: II International Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds
SELF-COMPATIBILITY IN ALMOND PROGENIES |
| Authors: | M. Rovira, J. Clavé, M. Romero, J. Santos, F.J. Vargas |
| Keywords: | almond, breeding, progenies, fruit set, self-compatibility |
| Abstract:
An almond breeding programme has been carried out at IRTA-Mas Bové since 1975. Twenty-two controlled crosses were made during four years (1990–1993) using 14 cultivars. Each cross comprised one self-compatible parent and one self-incompatible parent. Since 1995, compatibility behaviour has been studied in 1242 of these seedlings in the field. Around 100 flowers at balloon stage in each seedling were bagged before anthesis to prevent cross-pollination. Fruit set in each branch was scored 2 months later. After three years of study, it was concluded that 42.2% of the 1242 seedlings were self-compatible (>4% fruit set), 43.6% were self-incompatible (no fruit set) and 14.2% were intermediate. This result was expected, since one of the parents in each cross was self-compatible about 50% of the seedlings should have been self-compatible. This ratio could be scored for almost all the progenies analysed. Additionally, a self-compatibility test was conducted in the laboratory for one of these progenies, ‘Lauranne’ x ‘Marcona’ by observing pollen tube growth. Self-compatibility results obtained for this progeny by these two methods (fruit set in the field and pollen tube growth observation in the laboratory) were highly consistent (85%). This consistency supports results obtained in the field for the other crosses. | |
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