Supplemental Pollination with Different Sources of Pollen in Olive (Olea europaea) ‘Manzanilla’ under Hot and Arid Environment

Aim: Insufficient fruit set is one of the most serious problems that affect the productivity of olive trees in desert area. The objective of this research was to evaluate the supplemental pollination from five different cultivars as sources of pollen for use on ‘Manzanilla’.

Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out in the National Research Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock, Mexico during 2010. Five sources of pollen (‘Barouni’, ‘Nocellara de Belice’, ‘Coratina’, ‘Sevillano’ and ‘Manzanilla’ (self-pollination) were tested. Three pollen applications were made (30 g ha-1) for the first application and 60 g ha-1 for each of the other two applications.

Results: The germination of pollen grain derivative from the different cultivars was statistically similar, hovewer ranged from 42.1 to 53.5%. There was difference (P≤0.05) in fruit set, shotberry incidence and olive yield in ‘Manzanilla’ aftrer supplemental pollination by pollen derivative from diffrent cultivars compared to self-pollinated trees; the yield increased 28%. However, not significant differences were found for fruit set, shotberry or yield among the trees treated with the different sources of pollen, suggesting that ‘Manzanilla’ is self- incompatible and require cross-pollination to obtain sufficient yield.

Conclusion: Supplemental pollination of ‘Manzanilla’ olive tree increases fruit yield under hot and arid environment.