Irradiation and heat affect peach pollen germination and fertility

Abstract

Pollen from the doubled haploid peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] 'Hall-D' was irradiated with 0, 290, 530, 820, 1000, 5000, or 9000 Gray (Gy) of gamma radiation, 113 μW · cm-2 of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, or exposed to 100 °C for 2 h. In vitro pollen germination percentages were recorded and pollen was used to pollinate more than 10,000 emasculated or male-sterile peach flowers. Although pollen germination in vitro was stimulated by <1000 Gy of gamma irradiation, seed set following pollination was greatly reduced in all treatments. These results suggest that low levels of irradiation are sufficient to render pollen infertile while still maintaining germination capacity. Such results may be useful for pollination-induced parthenogenetic egg division for the production of maternally derived haploids and for the production of interspecific hybrids.