A PRELIMINARY-ANALYSIS OF SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY IN SOUR CHERRY

Self-incompatibility was investigated in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) by examining pollen growth in the pistil by use of ultraviolet fluorescence microscopy following self- and cross-pollination. The sour cherry cultivars Tschernokorka and Crisana exhibit pollen tube inhibition in the style characteristic of gametophytic self-incompatibility. 'Meteor' and 'Montmorency' appear to be partially self-incompatible, with few self-pollen tubes reaching the ovary. Several hybrid seedlings from crosses between self-compatible cultivars were self-incompatible, suggesting that these self-compatible parental cultivars carry self-incompatibility alleles.