Pollen germination as affected by pollen age in cherimoya

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola (Mill.)) is a subtropical fruit tree, which is cultivated in a good range of subtropical regions. In most of these areas the crop relies on hand pollination. However, following this practice, erratic fruit set is often produced, which could be related to problems in pollen handling. Indeed, very little is known of the time that the pollen remains viable and on which is the best stage to collect the anthers or pollen from the flower. The aim of this work is to evaluate pollen germinability prior and after anther dehiscence and also how the age of pollen affects pollen vigor, understood as speed of germination. Pollen samples at different times following anther dehiscence were germinated in vitro and in vivo. Pollen up to 90 min following dehiscence performed as well as freshly dehisced pollen. However, the pollen taken 120 min following dehiscence, showed a clear reduction in vigor and germinated much slower in vivo. To overcome this short pollen germinability, pollen was taken from anthers 30 and 5 h prior to natural anther dehiscence and compared with pollen taken at anther dehiscence and 20 h later. However, a reduction in germination rate was obtained in pollen taken prior to anther dehiscence. The narrow stage at which pollen can be collected together to its ephemeral germinability explains erratic results obtained following hand pollination in this crop and these results provide the clues for an adequate pollen handling.