INCOMPATIBILITY REACTIONS AND GENOTYPIC IDENTITY STATUS OF 5 COMMERCIAL CHICORY (CICHORIUM-INTYBUS L.) HYBRIDS

Incompatibility reactions of chicory plants cv. Flash, cv. Carolus, cv . Pax, cv, Focus and cv. Sigma were determined. Different levels of in compatibility were found, The cv. Carolus was highly self-incompatible , cv. Flash and cv, Pax could be self-compatible or self-incompatible and the cv. Sigma and cv. Focus are self-compatible. All the tested cu ltivars were intra-compatible (pollinations within the same cultivar) and cross-compatible among them. There was difference in percentage of viable seeds when cultivars were self-pollinated and intra-pollinated . This difference in percentages of viable seeds can be used as a nume rical criterion to determine genotypic identity of a cultivar. The hig her this difference value, the less uniform the behaviour of the culti vars in the field and during hydroponic forcing for production of the chicory head was observed. The results led to the conclusion that some of the commercial cultivars are not genotypic identical which has unf avorable implications in Belgian endive production and commercializati on. There was equal reaction to incompatibility in any sense of crossi ng (plants used as females compared with the result when plants were u sed as males in cross-pollinations). (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.