Effect of Different Pollen Sources on Fruit Set and Maturity of Exotic Pear (Pyrus communis L.) cvs. Carmen and Abate Fetel under Kashmir Conditions

The cultivated pear (Pyrus communis L.) is an economically important fruit crop often showing gametophytic self-incompatibility. Therefore, this species needs to be pollinated by cross-compatible cultivars that bloom in the same time. Selection of appropriate pollinizers for pear cultivars is thus very important to produce commercial yield. The present study was undertaken on two exotic pear cultivars viz., Carmen and Abate Fetel used as maternal parents with seven pollinizer cultivars viz., William Bartlett, Fertility, Clapp’s Favorite, Chinese Sandy Pear, Max Red Bartlett, Kings Pear and Beurre d’Amanalis to assess the pollination behaviour, compatibility and effect of these pollen sources on fruit maturity. The treatments included self, open and cross pollination and the design of experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications per treatment. Among all the studied cultivars Chinese Sandy Pear was earliest (18^th-19^th March) in bud burst whereas, Abate Fetel was late in all the floral phenology parameters. Maximum flowering duration (17 days) was recorded in William Bartlett and Fertility whereas minimum (12 days) in Chinese Sandy Pear and Kings Pear.Highest compatibility in terms of fruit set (74.00%) was recorded with pollinizer “Fertility” followed by 72.83% with “William Bartlett” and 72.67% with “Max Red Bartlett. Likewise, highest mean fruit retention percentage (46.42%) was recorded with pollen source “Fertility” followed by 46.21% and 46.11% with “William Bartlett” and “Max Red Bartlett”, respectively. Maximum days (127.10 days) from full bloom required to reach the harvestable stage were observed with pollinizer William Bartlett and minimum (123.49 days) with Clapp’s Favourite. The pollinizer cultivars Fertility, William Bartlett and Max Red Bartlett proved to be best pollinizers for cvs. Carmen and Abate Fetel in terms of flowering duration, bloom synchronization and fruit set under Kashmir conditions.