The present investigations were carried out in Peach Experimental Blocks of the Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni-Solan (H P) during 2013-2014. Five cultivars of [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] were evaluated for time and duration of flowering, viability of fresh and stored pollen grains with Acetocarmine and Erythrosin B, in vitro germination of stored and fresh pollen grains. Flower initiation was earliest in Tropic Beauty followed by Pratap, July Elberta and Redhaven were last to flowering in both the years. The duration of flowering extended from 16 days in Pratap to 24 days in Redhaven. In the next season, the flowering period extended from 14 days in Tropic Beauty and Saharanpur Prabhat to 16 days in Redhaven. Pollen viability of fresh pollen ranged from 92.71 to 95.84 per cent and 91.35 to 94.25 per cent in fresh pollen stained with Acetocarmine (2 %) and Erythrosin B (0.04 %). Germination was maximum (92.72 %) in 10 per cent sucrose solution.

Download this article as