The effect of different pollination periods with irradiated polen on fruit setting, and the effect of different harvest dates and storage temperatures on embryo yield and on transformation to plant of Kirkağaç melons

Dihapoloidization technique was used to breed resistant cultivars to Fusarium wilt which gives serious damages to melon and causes economical problems during growing season. Dihaploidization technique is adventageous in many cases, first of all purification when compared to classical breeding. The highest fruit set was obtained from the pollinations which were done in May. The quality of embryo and the transformation ratio to plant of the embryos were investigated which were found in the fruits obtained after 4 different pollination period. For this aim, weight of fruits, number of seed, number of haploid embryos found in each fruit, number of different shaped haploid embryos (heart, torpedo, globular), number of haploid embryos which transform to plant and transformation ratio were investigated. As a result of resarch the highest embryo number was obtained from the fruits which were pollinated between 26 April-3 May with 5.81 embryos/fruit. The highest transformation ratio of embryos to plant was obtained from same pollination period.The harvest time of fruits pollinated by irradiated pollen is important. For this purpose, fruits were harvested 22, 26 and 30 days after pollination. Additionally, fruits were stored at +13 ºC for 0, 1, 2 and 3 weeks. The best results were obtained from the 22 days after pollination for harvest time and 2 weeks storage period.High number of fruit set in growing conditions in the same period causes some problems. For this aim seeds were extracted directly after fruit harvest and fruits were stored in room temperature, +4 ºC and +13 ºC. The best results from storage conditions applied was obtained from the direct extraction after harvest