Crossability of Pinus sibirica and P. pumila with their hybrids

Crossability of Pinus sibirica and P. pumila hybrids and their parental species was studied using the controlled pollination method. Pinus sibirica and its hybrids were represented by grafts at the “Kedr” field station southeast of Tomsk Oblast, Russia; the parental species was of local provenance, with its hybrids obtained from the Southern Baikal region. In the case of P. pumila, trees were pollinated in a wild stand located in the Upper Angara River delta. Parental species had the highest number of filled seeds under open pollination. When they were pollinated with hybrid pollen, the trees showed nearly two-fold reductions in the number of filled seeds. Hybrids tended to abort most ovules during the first year of female cone development, resulting in a high seed abortion rate and consequent low seed production. The number of filled seeds obtained from hybrids was low, with levels ranging from 8.2 to 24.3%. Because of weak reproductive isolation between hybrids and parental species, crosses are inevitable and lead to species introgression. The hybrids probably contribute to interspecies genetic exchange both through hybrid seed production following pollination by parental species and by hybrid pollen distribution.