Eff ect of Diff erent Pollen Sources on Fruit Set and Maturity of Exotic Pear (Pyrus communis L.) cvs. Carmen and Abate Fetel under Kashmir Conditions

Abstract

The cultivated pear (Pyrus communis L.) is an economically important fruit crop often showing gametophytic
self-incompatibility. Therefore, this species needs to be pollinated by cross-compatible cultivars that bloom in the
same time. Selection of appropriate pollinizers for pear cultivars is thus very important to produce commercial
yield. The present study was undertaken on two exotic pear cultivars viz., Carmen and Abate Fetel used as maternal
parents with seven pollinizer cultivars viz., William Bartlett, Fertility, Clapp’s Favorite, Chinese Sandy Pear, Max
Red Bartlett, Kings Pear and Beurre d’Amanalis to assess the pollination behaviour, compatibility and eff ect of
these pollen sources on fruit maturity. The treatments included self, open and cross pollination and the design
of experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications per treatment. Among
all the studied cultivars Chinese Sandy Pear was earliest (18th-19th March) in bud burst whereas, Abate Fetel
was late in all the fl oral phenology parameters.Maximum fl owering duration (17 days) was recorded in William
Bartlett and Fertility whereas minimum (12 days) in Chinese Sandy Pear and Kings Pear.Highest compatibility in
terms of fruit set (74.00%) was recorded with pollinizer “Fertility” followed by 72.83% with “William Bartlett”
and 72.67% with “Max Red Bartlett. Likewise, highest mean fruit retention percentage (46.42%) was recorded
with pollen source “Fertility” followed by 46.21% and 46.11% with “William Bartlett” and “Max Red Bartlett”,
respectively. Maximum days (127.10 days) from full bloom required to reach the harvestable stage were observed
with pollinizer William Bartlett and minimum (123.49 days) with Clapp’s Favourite. The pollinizer cultivars
Fertility, William Bartlett and Max Red Bartlett proved to be best pollinizers for cvs. Carmen and Abate Fetel
in terms of fl owering duration, bloom synchronization and fruit set under Kashmir conditions.