VIEW ARTICLE

Stimulatory Effect of Pollen and Pistillate Parts of Some Horticultural Species upon the Germination of Botrytis cinerea Spores. H. Borecka, Principal Mycologist, Department of Food Storage, Research Institute of Pomology, Skierniewice, Poland; D. F. Millikan, Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65201. Phytopathology 63:1431-1432. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-63-1431.

Aqueous suspensions of pollen grains of Fragaria, Ribes, Rubus, Prunus, Malus, Hyacinthus, Iris, Narcissus, and Tulipa contain substances which stimulate the germination of Botrytis cinerea spores. Rubus pollen in the germinating media caused 75% of the spores to germinate, whereas that of other species was greater than 90%. This contrasted with the 5 to 16% found in the water controls. When sections of the pistil were tested, all parts from Tulipa markedly stimulated germination but the stimulatory effects from stigma sections of Prunus sp. were either much less, or absent.