The Effect of Free and Controlled Pollination on Fruit and Pistachio Seed Characteristics of Ahmad Aghaei Cultivar

Introduction:

Iran, as the largest producer and exporter of pistachio (Pistacia vera L.), is among the major pistachio producing countries in the world including USA, Turkey, Italy and Greece. Due to the altered nature of the pistachio, the high yield of the pistachio is due to the fact that the environment is quite suitable and fertility of the female flowers is high. As the edible and consumable part of this fruit is its brain, it is essential for brain formation, pollination and intercourse. Therefore, it is more important for fruit formation, pollination and blending than many fruits. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of artificial parent pollination of integerrima species on seed properties obtained by crossing with Ahmad aghaei and also to compare the effects of integerrima pollen with domestic pistachio pollen on the quantity and quality of pistachio fruit and seed. 

Materials and Methods:

The experiment was conducted as factorial based on a completely block design with three replications in one of  the Astan Qods Razavi pistachio orchards in Bardsaskan-Anabed city, 297 km from Mashhad during 2016-2017. Experimental treatments included two pollinator methods (spray and brush) and five flour-pollen combinations (Table 1). Each replicate had one tree and five branches were selected from each tree with at least three to four flower buds. Four of them were controlled for pollination and one branch was considered for negative control. The branches were insulated by two-layer bags. The fruits were harvested in late summer and some quantitative and qualitative traits were measured. 

Results and Discussion:

The results of statistical analysis showed that the use of vera free pollen had a significant positive effect on most of the traits compared to other integerrima pollen treatments. On the other hand, integerrima pollen showed better results in IF4 treatment (0.50 g of integerrima pollen + 0.25 g flour) than control and other treatments. Also, the highest reduction of traits was observed in IF1 treatment (2 g of integerrima pollen + 0.25 g of flour) compared to other treatments in most of the traits. On the other hand, spraying method showed more favorable effects on most of the traits than brush pollinator method. Based on the results of this study, it seems that using spray pollinator and pollen of integerrima can reduce some traits such as Indehiscent nut in pistachio orchards. 

Conclusion:

In general, the results showed that supplemental pollination using spray-spraying method in flour-pollen mixtures can be commercially available to increase fruit formation, and reduce osteoporosis to some extent. However, little research is needed on the role of different pollen grains on the quantitative and qualitative traits of the resulting fruits.