Efficiency of different cultivars as pollinizers for ‘Castel Gala’ and ‘Condessa’ apples

Abstract

Apple is an allogamous species that requires cross-pollination in order to get normal commercial
fruit production. This means that orchards have to be composed of an association of different pollinizer cultivars
compatible with the target cultivar and with coincidence of blooming. This study had the objective to identify
efficient apple cultivars as pollinizers for Castel Gala and Condessa. Two tests of crosses were made. For the
first, the cultivars Eva, Condessa and Princesa and the selection Iapar 680-28, were tested as pollinizers of
‘Castel Gala’. For the second test of crosses, ‘Condessa’ as female cultivar and ‘Castel Gala’ and ‘Princesa’ as
pollen source were used. For the first test, ‘Eva’ and ‘Condessa’ as pollinizers were the most efficient for fruit set and seed number per fruit of ‘Castel Gala’. The pollinizers with better blooming coincidence for ‘Castel Gala’ were ‘Princesa’ and ‘Iapar 680-28’. For the second test, ‘Castel Gala’ was more efficient than ‘Princesa’ as pollinizer of ‘Condessa’, on both fruit set and seed number per fruit.