Flowering and pollen behavior of some olive cultivars grown in mid hills of Jammu and Kashmir

Sixteen cultivars of olive having age of twenty years with uniform growth and vigour were examined for their flowering and pollen characters. The experiment was carried out in the orchard of state Department of Horticulture at Govindpura, district Ramban (J & K). Observations were recorded on flowering (date of first flower opening, date of full bloom, date of end of bloom, duration of flowering, inflorescence length and width, number of flowers per panicle, hermaphrodite and staminate flowers and their ratio) and pollen (pollen morphology, pollen viability and pollen germination) characters. Among the cultivars studied, earliest flowering (14th April) was observed in cultivars Nocellara Etnea, Frantoio and Cipressino, while late flowering was recorded in cultivar Nocellara Messinese i.e. 20th April. Maximum duration of flowering was observed in cultivar Moraiolo (15 days) while cultivars Cerignola, Itrana, Leccino, Nocellara del Belice, Nocellara Messinese and Ottobratica flowered for less number of days (12.00 days). Maximum number of flowers/panicle was observed in cultivar Cipressino (23.88) which also had maximum hermaphrodite/staminate ratio (4.48). Minimum number of flowers/panicle was observed in cultivar Carolea (13.62) and cultivar Nocellara del Belice registered minimum values for hermaphrodite/ staminate ratio (1.48). Cultivar Itrana (96.09 %) had highest pollen viability while cultivar Frantoio (83.04 %) had least viable pollens. Maximum pollen germination was recorded in cultivar Nocellara del Belice (38.50 %) and minimum in cultivar Moraiolo (24.73 %). A wide variation was observed with respect to flowering and pollen characters among the different olive cultivars.