Determination of Blooming, Pollen and Fruit Set Characteristics in Punica granatum.

The objective of this study was to investigate flowering, pollen, and fruit set characteristics of locally registered pomegranate cultivars between two consecutive years. 'Dr. Ercan 35', 'Efenar 35', 'Kamilbey 35', and 'Tezeren 35' cultivars have been developed by cross-breeding programs. Open-, cross-, and self-pollination studies were performed with these cultivars using three trees in each replicate in the field. Number of anthers per flower, number of pollen grains per anther, viability, and germination tests were conducted in the laboratory. Fruit set ratio of self-pollinated combinations were lower than open-pollination. The fruit set ratio from self-pollination was obtained from 'Dr. Ercan' (60.3%), 'Efenar 35' (62.4%), 'Kamilbey 35' (50.5%), and 'Tezeren 35' (25.2%). The highest fruit set ratio (49.7%) was obtained from 'Kamilbey 35' × 'Dr. Ercan 35' combination. The highest number of characteristics was as follows: 'Tezeren 35' (402 anthers/hermaphrodite flowers), 'Kamilbey 35' (8550 pollen/anther, male flowers in the beginning of flowering), 'Efenar 35' (84.7% pollen viability, hermaphrodite flowers), 'Kamilbey 35' (71.2%, pollen germination, hermaphrodite flowers). In conclusion, at least one, two or more, pollinator cultivars are necessary for commercial plantations using with these recently released pomegranate cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]