ROMANIAN KIWIFRUIT BREEDING PROGRAM - PRELIMINARY STUDY OF FIFTEEN MALE HYBRIDS FOR SELECTION AS POLLINATORS

Kiwi is a new fruit that can be grown in Romania. A common Italian-Romanian kiwifruit breeding program was initiated in 1993. For pollinator (male) kiwi plants, breeding programs involve the selection of elite plants with long flowering period and high pollen germination rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pollen grains from fifteen Romanian kiwifruit hybrids for identifying the most suitable pollinators for kiwi female selections released from our breeding program. The fresh pollen grains were collected during pollination period (2018-2020), in Petri dishes, maintained at room temperature for 12 hours, and then placed in 15% sucrose solution for germination. At different time interval: 4, 8, 12 and respectively, 24 hours, several measurements were done. Four genotypes – R0P3, R0P6, R2P8 and R3P9, which recorded over 90% germinability after 24 hours, have been selected for further field tests, including artificial pollination and compatibility tests with the kiwi female selections.