Fruit Set of Pecan Requires a Low Percentage of Live Pollen in Controlled Pollination

Abstract

Pollen dose used in controlled crosses can influence plant characteristics of F1 and sub- sequent generations. A high pollen dose yielded zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.) seed that tended to germinate more rapidly than seed from a low pollen dose (Davis et al., 1987). Zucchini plants resulting from a high pollen dose produced larger fruit and more seed, and they were considered superior to plants derived from low pollen doses. Pre- sumably, a high pollen dose creates com- petition among microgametophytes (Mulcahy and Mulcahy, 1987), and correlation be- tween microgametophyte and sporophytic performance is believed to be a result of sig- nificant gene overlap expressed in both stages of the plant life cycle (Tanksley et al., 1981). The objective of this research was to eval- uate the influence of pollen dose on fruit set of pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] and early seedling performance