Controlled and open pollination between Pinus brutia (Ten.) and Pinus halepensis (Mill.) in Israel and hybrid performance

The present study examined the occurrence of open and controlled pollination between Pinus brutia (Ten.) and Pinus halepensis (Mill.) under the environmental conditions of the East Mediterranean climate. Controlled interspecific pollination succeeded only with P. brutia as the maternal parent and P. halepensis as the paternal parent. Open interspecific pollination also occurred under Israeli conditions, due to some overlapping between the flowering periods of P. brutia and P. halepensis. Interspecific pollination was characterized by a low percentage of filled seeds and a low germination percentage compared to seeds from intraspecific pollination of each of the parents. The growth rate of the hybrids in the nursery was inferior to or the same as either of the parents. The susceptibility of the hybrids to Matsucoccus josephi (Bodenheimer et Harpaz) varied between different clones, but was intermediate between P. brutia (low susceptibility) and P. halepensis (high susceptibility). Backcrossing 1 seedlings were highly susceptible to M. josephi.