In vitro pollen germination potential of wild pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) genotypes in Western Himalayan region

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan during 2013-15 in order to evaluate the germination potential of pollen grains of wild pomegranate genotypes collected from different districts of Himachal Pradesh. Freshly dehisced pollen grains were collected and tested in different media containing varied amount of sucrose. Maximum pollen germination was observed in the genotypes collected from Shimla district and least in Mandi district. Among all the media used for germination, 15 percent sucrose with 10 ppm boric acid solution proved its superiority over the rest. Increasing the sucrose amount from 10 to 15 per cent in the germination media, the germination percentage increases and increasing further concentration decrease the germinability.