evaluation of stigma receptivity period in several peach cultivars through controlled pollination under field and laboratory condition

in order to study stigma receptivity in peach cultivars : (‘makhmali’, ‘anjiri-ye-tabestane’, ‘anjiri-ye maleki’, ‘haj-kazemi’ and ’zoodras’) controlled pollination was done in both field and laboratory conditions. before pollination trials the in vitro germination of the pollen was tested in petridish. branches with adequate number of flowers were chosen for controlled pollination. self pollination was carried out by hand, on the same day as emasculation (day 0) and thereafter every two days (2, 4, 6, 8 days after emasculation). to allow for growth of pollen tubes pollinated pistils were collected four days after pollination and fixed in faa. pistils were washed several times and autoclaved in a solution of 5% sodium sulfite for softening. after staining with aniline blue, the pollen germination at the stigma and pollen tubes growth in each section of style (upper and bottom) and ovary was determined by means of fluorescence microscopy. results revealed that the stigmas of studied cultivars were receptive at balloon stage and reach their optimum receptivity between 2 and 4 days later. our studied cultivars in confrontation to occurrence of temperature oscillations in field condition had different reactions at different pollination times. regarding to pollen germination at the stigma surface and in vitro condition and existence the pollen tubes inside the ovary, became clear that studied cultivars are self-compatible and male-fertile.