Full Length Research Paper

Pollen susceptibility of Pistacia species to different pH medium

Izzet Acar¹*, Selim Arpaci¹ and Sinan Eti²

¹Pistachio Research Institute, Sahinbey, 27060 Gaziantep, Turkey.

²Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Çukurova, 01330 Adana, Turkey

*Corresponding author. E-mail: izzetacar@afae.gov.tr. Tel: +90 342 338 07 90.  Fax: +90 342 338 14 64.

Accepted 2 June, 2010

 Abstract

This study investigated the effect of different pH levels on in vitro pollen germination and pollen tube growth in Pistacia palaestina, Pistacia terebinthus, Pistacia atlantica, Pistacia khinjuk, and Pistacia vera cv Kaska. Pollen susceptibility of Pistacia species to acidity or alkalinity of germination medium (pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 6.7 (distilled water), 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0) were tested. It was found that pollen germination and pollen tube growth for all species were greatly reduced when grown in the pH 3.0 medium. None of the pollen of the Pistacia species could germinate at pH 2.0. With growth mediums between pH 3.0 and 9.0, the amount and pattern of response in pollen germinability and tube growth varied considerably between species. According to mean pollen germination, the highest value was obtained at pH 6.0 (93.29%), while pH 3.0 had the lowest value, with 12.08%. The pollen tube growth of the species ranged from 87.6 mm (pH 3.0) to 1054.6 mm (pH 9.0). The pH of the germination medium also affected differentiation in pollen germination and pollen tube growth between the genotypes.

Key words: Pistacia, in vitro, pollen germination, pollen tube growth, pH.