Effect of Self- and Cross-Pollination on Fruit Set and other Characteristics of 'Isfahan' Quince Cultivar

Quince (Cydonia oblonga L.) tree has been introduced as a self-compatible tree, but due to the very low fruit set in some orchards/genotypes and some reports about self-compatible alleles, it is necessary to investigate the effect of using out-crossing for improving and increasing yield of different cultivars of this species. This study was carried out on 'Isfahan' quince cultivar in the orchard of Fajr Agricultural Company, Iran, in ۲۰۱۹ and ۲۰۲۰. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four treatments including cross-pollination with 'Limouei' quince cultivar, open pollination, hand self-pollination, and self-pollination. The flowers of cultivar 'Isfahan' were emasculated in the balloon stage and were pollinated with the pollen of 'Limouei'. For self-pollination treatment, flowers in the balloon stage were covered with a bag without any emasculation or crossing. For hand self-pollination, 'Isfahan' flowers were emasculated and pollinated with 'Isfahan' pollen. The highest percentage of initial and final fruit sets was obtained in the cross-pollination treatment with 'Limouei' followed by the open pollination treatment. There was no fruit set in the self-pollination treatment. Outcrossing by 'Limouei' resulted in the highest number of seeds as well as the fruit weight. Fruit quality traits such as TSS, TA, firmness, pectin, and total phenol content did not show a significant difference among cross-pollination with 'Limouei', open pollination, and hand self-pollination. Using different cultivars with proper overlap at flowering time can increase the percentage of fruit set.

Keywords:

Cydonia oblonga L. , 'Limouei' quince , Out-crossing , Quince quality traits.