Effects of Artificial Pollination of Integerrima Pollen on some Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Pistachio Nuts cv. ‘Fandoghi’ (Pistachio vera L.) in Khorasan Province

Iran, is the largest producer and exporter of pistachio (Pistacia vera L.), among the major pistachio producing countries in the world including USA, Turkey, Italy and Greece. Due to the altered nature of the pistachio, the high yield of the pistachio is due to the fact that the environment is quite suitable and fertility of the female flowers is high. As the edible and consumable part of this fruit is its kernel, it is essential for brain formation, pollination and inoculated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of artificial parent pollination of Integrima species on seed properties obtained by crossing with ‘Fandoghi’ pistachio cultivar and also to compare the effects of Integerrima pollen with domestic pistachio pollen on the quantity and quality of pistachio fruits and seeds.

The experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications in one of Astan Qods Razavi pistachio gardens in Bardsaskan-Anabed city, 297 km from Mashhad during 2018-2019. Experimental treatments included two pollinator methods (spray and brush) and five flour-pollen combinations. Each replicate had one tree and five branches that were selected from each tree with at least three to four flower buds. Four of them were controlled for pollination and one branch was considered for negative control. The branches were insulated by two-layer bags. The fruits were harvested in late summer and some quantitative and qualitative traits were measured.

Analysis of variance showed that the effect of flour-pollen blend on fruit formation of ‘Fandoghi’ cultivar in the first stage was significant (p≤0.01), but there was not a significant difference between the simple effect of their pollen and the interaction of their mixture and pollen (p≤0.05).  The amount of fruit formation in the second stage showed a significant difference with respect to the simple effect of flour-pollen blend (p≤0.01) but there were no significant differences between the mixture and pollinator for simple and their interaction effects (p≤0.05). All of the simple and interactions effects of variations were significant (p≤0.01) on the final stage of fruits shape of ‘Fandoghi’ cultivar. Fruit loss was significantly (p≤0.01) affected by simple effect of flour-pollen blend, but there was no significant difference (p≤0.05) of simple and interaction effects of their pollen between blend and pollen variations. None of the simple and interaction effects of variations were not significant on wet weight of fruit. No significant difference was observed between the effect of pollen and pollen interactions between the mixture and their pollen, and the effect of simple mixture of flour-pollen show significant (p≤0.01).  The effect of pollen and flour-pollen mixture on dehiscent was significant (p≤0.01), but the interaction of pollen in the mixture was not significant.   Correlation coefficients of traits under evaluation showed that there was a significant positive and negative correlation between different traits, so that the highest positive and significant correlation (88%) was observed between the second stage and the final stage of fruit formation.