Pollen viability and germination rates of 45 watermelon genotypes

This study was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture of Cukurova University in 2002. Eighty three watermelon accessions, collected from different regions and provided by the Turkish genebank (Menemen Agricultural Research Institute), were used for this study. Watermelon plants were grown in the research greenhouses of Cukurova University to determine pollen viability and germination rate. TTC (triphenyl tetrazolium chloride) and FDA (fluorescein di acetat) tests were used to determine pollen viability. In vitro germination test was conducted by using agar plates. The highest pollen viabilities (97.41% and 97.36%) were found in accessions 70 and 71, the lowest viabilities (49.65% and 61.08%) were found in accessions 25 and 24 with the TTC test. By using the FDA test, the highest pollen viabilities (96.31% and 96.05%) were observed in accessions 10 and 29 while the lowest rates (71.37% and 74.86%) were obtained from accessions 47 and 24. Germination rates of pollen were lower than viability. The highest germination rates (89.43% and 88.23%) were observed in accessions 83 and 76, the lowest rates (19.62% and 20.22%) were found in accessions 24 and 25