Reproductive Behaviour of New European Plum Cultivars ‘Lana’, ‘Divna’ and ‘Petra’

• Published in: Erwerbsobstbau 2023-12, Vol.65 (6), p.2379-2389
• Main Authors: Glišić, Ivana, Đorđević, Milena, Milošević, Nebojša, Radičević, Sanja, Marić, Slađana, Cerović, Radosav
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Air temperature; Biocompatibility; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Breeding; Cultivars; Fertilization; Fluorescence microscopy; Fruit set; Fruits; Genotypes; Germination; Life Sciences; Original Article; Originalbeitrag; Pistils; Plant breeding; Plant reproduction; Plant Sciences; Pollen; Pollen tubes; Pollination; Prunus domestica; Reproductive behavior; Sucrose; Temperature effects; Tubes
• ISSN: 0014-0309; 1439-0302
• DOI: 10.1007/s10341-023-00972-y

The development of European plum ( Prunus domestica  L.) cultivars is a crucial part of the 70-year-long tradition of breeding work on temperate zone fruit species at the Fruit Research Institute, Čačak, Republic of Serbia. Since its establishment to date, 18 plum cultivars of worldwide importance have been named and released. During the evaluation of newly bred plum genotypes, particular attention has been paid to the study of their self-(in)compatibility status, which is very important both for growers and breeders. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the self-(in)compatibility status of the recently released plum cultivars ‘Divna’, ‘Lana’ and ‘Petra’. The 2‑year (2018/19) study included: assessment of in vitro pollen germination on agarose-sucrose medium, observation of pollen tube growth in vivo in pistils under self- and open-pollination modes using fluorescence microscopy and determination of fruit set. In addition, the effect of temperature on the progamic phase was evaluated. In vitro pollen germination had high values, indicating the good in vivo pollen behaviour. High values of the parameters of pollen tube growth in vivo and fruit set in both self- and open-pollination variants were obtained in ‘Divna’ and ‘Petra’. On the other hand, pollen tube growth inhibition was observed in the upper part of the styles after self-pollination of ‘Lana’. Consequently, in the base of the style and in the ovary no tubes were noticed and no fruit set was recorded. Based on the overall results, ‘Lana’ can be characterized as self-incompatible, whilst ‘Divna’ and ‘Petra’ are self-compatible plum cultivars. The influence of air temperatures on the reproductive process and fertilization success was specific to each genotype.