The purpose of this study was to evaluate fruit set and pollen grain germination of 'Brazilian seedless' sugar apple. Two experiments were performed: 1) one in a completely randomized design with three treatments (natural and artificial pollination and self-fertilization), with three replications of 10 flowers per plot, 2) and the other in a completely randomized design with three treatments: pollen grains of a seeded wild-type, 'Brazilian seedless' and atemoya (hybrid of sugar apple and cherimoya) 'Gefner', with five replications. A fruit set of 100% was achieved by artificial pollination. No fruit formation was observed after self-fertilization. The percentage of pollen grain germination in vitro was highest for 'Brazilian seedless' (52.5%) and lowest for cultivar Gefner (5.9%). Preliminary results indicated that pollen grains of 'Brazilian seedless' are viable and that natural or artificial pollination is essential for fruit set.
Seedless fruit; atemoya; artificial pollination