Study of Flowering and Pollination Characteristics in Native Olive Genotypes and Cultivars of Iran

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is an important horticultural crop for oil production. This study was conducted to evaluate the flowering characteristics of more than 90 native olive genotypes and cultivars. It was performed for two years (2011-2012) at Tarom Olive Research Station. The studied traits included the flowering time, number of flowers per inflorescence, percentage of perfect flowers, fruit set in self-pollination and open pollination and pollen germination rate. The results showed that the earliest opening time of flowers was related to genotypes Qg13, Qg28 and cultivar of Koroneiki and the latest flowering time was in Bash genotype. Flowering time interval between the first and last genotype lasted 18 days. The average number of flowers per inflorescence was 20.52 flowers. Among the olive genotypes and cultivars, the number of perfect flowers varied from 0.7% to 50.9%. The effect of canopy direction was significant on number of flowers in inflorescence and percentage of perfect flowers. Most of genotypes and cultivars had high self-compatibility in pollination and 12% of genotypes had severe self-incompatibility. In open pollination, the lowest final fruit set was related to genotype Tmo1 with 0.1% and the highest was related to cultivar Arbequina with 4%. In pollen germination, the genotype Tmo1 with 4.8% had the lowest and genotypes of D1, Qg18 with 88% had the highest pollen germination. The genotype Tmo1 had abnormal flowers with without filament of stamens and attached anthers.