Sterility limits sexual hybridization, but on the other hand, it is of economic importance by inducing fewer seeds per fruit in some citrus varieties. Pera sweet orange is the main cultivar in Brazil, around 50% of all sweet oranges produced in the country. This variety has good processing quality as well as for the fresh market. The importance of this cultivar for the brazilian citriculture and the necessity to search for new cultivars, which combine the good characteristics from Pera with others desirable agronomic characters, has induced new basic studies aiming at a better knowledge of genetics and reproduction of this elite variety. In this way, in this work, was studied the pollen viability for eleven clones of Pera and five others sweet orange varieties, morphologically similar to Pera, budded in Rangpur lime (Citrus limonia Osbeck). The percentile of pollen viability was evaluated using acetic carmine stain and optic microscopy. It was observed that Corsa Tardia, Pera Olímpia and Ovale San Lio varieties, presented larger quantity of viable pollen, with 65.5, 57.3 and 53.6%, respectively, most of studied genotypes showed this values varying from 30 to 50%, and those that presented fewer values were Pera Bianchi and Pera Pirangi, with approximately 28% of viable pollen as well as Ovale de Siracusa variety, which did not present pollen.
Citrus sinensis [L] Osbeck; genetic breeding
