Haitham Ismael⁽¹⁾ Hafez Mahfoud⁽²⁾ and Mohammad Nizam^*(1)

(1). Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria.

(2). Department of Biotechnology, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Latakia, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Eng. mohammad.nizam85@hotmail.com).

Received: 20/02/2018                                Accepted: 29/03/2018

Abstract

The research was carried during 2016 and 2017 to evaluate the physiological behavior of seed germination and micromorphological characterization of pollen grains using a light microscope as a comparative indicator for 24 shrubs of Prunus cerasia Blanche naturally prevailing on 12 sites of the Syrian coast. The results showed physiological similarity of the seeds within the same site and difference in different sites. So, the shrubs LK1 and LK2 in Kassab showed the highest and fastest germination percentage, followed by LD1 and LD2 in Al-Daliya site. However, the lowest and slowest germination percentage were for LRsh1 and LRsh2 in Ras al-Shamra site. Investigated pollen grains were similar: spherical, medium size and tri-apertures, but they were different in the average lengths of polar and equator axes. LRsh1 and LRsh2 in Ras al-Shamra site were significant than other shrubs. The investigated shrubs were also variant in the dimensions of anthers and number of pollen grains within the anther. A direct relation was noticed between the anther dimensions and number of pollen grains in the anther for all studied shrubs.

Keywords: Wild plum, Prunus cerasia, Pollen grains.

Full paper in Arabic: PDF