Independence of self-compatibility and potentiality for self-pollination in peach x almond hybrids

Summary The almond of commerce (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb) is self-incompatible (SI) and requires honey-bees to effect the transfer of pollen among cultivars that flower simultaneously. Four year old trees from the F₂ generation of several peach x almond hybrids were studied to determine whether self-compatibility (SC) and the potentiality for natural, i.e., abiotic, self pollination (NSP) are genetically related or are inherited independently. Both SC and the high potentiality for NSP are characteristic of peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) but not almond. Forty percent of SC genotypes exhibited adequate NSP (SC, +NSP) for good fertility i.e., without insect-mediated pollination. The remaining 60% of SC genotypes (SC,-NSP) exhibited an average 61% reduction in fruit set on limbs bagged to exclude honeybees during anthesis relative to fruit set on open pollinated limbs. Our data are consistent with the concept that fertility is dependent upon the load of compatible pollen deposited on the stigma. Fruit set reduction on bagged limbs, compared with bagged and self-pollinated limbs, was presumably due to a) lack of/insufficient pollination for fertilization and/or b) post-zygotic abortion of genetically inferior recombinants. Selection following manual self-pollination may result in SC genotypes with or without the capacity for NSP. In contrast, significant fruit set on limbs enclosed during pistil receptivity necessitates that the genotype selected express both SC and the potentiality for NSP.