Determination of pollen viability of wild pomegranate accessions in the mid-hill zone of Himachal Pradesh Mishra Gopa, Sharma Girish, Taria Sukumar1, Lata Suman, Negi Deepika Department of Fruit Science, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan-173230, HP, India 1Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Puri, 752014, Odisha, India Email forcorrespondence: nini.gs.ag@gmail.com
Online published on 25 July, 2018. Abstract Wild pomegranate, Punica granatum L is regarded as a biotype of cultivated pomegranate which resembles the latter in various aspects viz growth, flowering and fruit characters with high acidic taste. Not much work has been carried out on wild pomegranate as it is only confined to the mid-hill zone of western Himalayan region. Evaluation is the preliminary step for any breeding programme and the present study was carried out at the Department of Fruit Science, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry with the aim of evaluating the genotypes for 2 consequent years (201314 and 2014–15) on the basis of pollen viability which plays an important role in pollination and fruit set. The freshly dehisced pollens from unopened buds were taken and viability test was conducted by using both erythrosine B (1%) and acetocarmine (2%) solution. The statistical analysis revealed that the viability of pollen grains ranged (polled) from 80.85 to 87.81 per cent and 83. 94 to 96.06 per cent through erythrosine B (1%) and acetocarmine (2%) respectively. Best pollen viability was observed in acetocarmine (2%). Plant # 8 of Mandi had maximum pollen viability (96.06%) among all the genotypes. Top Keywords Wild pomegranate, biotype, pollen viability, erythrosine, acetocarmine. Top |