Effect of pollen source on some fruit characteristics of exotic pear (Pyrus communis L.) cv. carmen and abate Fetel

A research experiment was conducted on two fruit bearing exotic cultivars “Carmen” and “Abate Fetel” of pear (Pyrus communis L.). The treatments included self, open and cross pollination of these two maternal parents with seven pollinizers viz., “William Bartlett”, “Fertility”, “Clapp’s Favourite”, “Chinese Sandy Pear”, “Max Red Bartlett”, “Kings Pear” and “Beurre de Amanalis”. The design of experiment was RCBD with three replications and the number of treatment combinations were 18. Pollen source affected the fruit colour significantly, wherein the highest value of red colour based on ‘a’ value was recorded with the pollen of “Max Red Bartlett” in the combination ‘Carmen × Max Red Bartlett’ (a=25.81) whereas, it was lowest with the pollen of “Kings Pear” (a=-16.63) in the combination ‘Abate Fetel × Kings Pear’, fruit shape, pedicle length and number of lenticles remain unaffected with the pollenizers used, however, sensory characteristics varied significantly with the pollenizers used.