Refine your search
Collections
Journals
Year
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
Lishiba, P. P.
- Flower Sex Expression in Cucurbit Crops of Kerala: Implications for Pollination and Fruitset
Abstract Views :339 |
PDF Views:144
Authors
Affiliations
1 Department of Animal Science, Central University of Kerala, Padannakad PO 671 314, IN
1 Department of Animal Science, Central University of Kerala, Padannakad PO 671 314, IN
Source
Current Science, Vol 109, No 12 (2015), Pagination: 2299-2302Abstract
Cucurbits are monoecious in general; the female flowers occur lower than the male flowers in fields. Often farmers are not aware of this type of sex expression, and are concerned about the low fruit set despite 'profuse' flowering and abundant pollinators in the crop fields. We assessed flower sex expression during the peak (female) flowering and fruiting period in three widely grown cucurbit crops, Cucurbita maxima, Benincasa hispida and Momordica charantia in a village ecosystem of northern Kerala. Sex expression was male-biased in two species. In M. charantia, 97.65% of the flowers produced were staminate. In this condition, the farmers should ensure that effective pollinators are available in plenty to achieve maximum fruit set from the low number of pistillate flowers. C. maxima produced an average of 75.39% of staminate flowers, which varied across the fields; three fields consistently produced 100% pistillate flowers in all the 14 days of observations. The fruit set in fields with only pistillate flowers is likely to be affected by pollen limitation, rather than pollinator limitation. These fields may require supplementary manual pollination to enhance the fruit set. B. hispida produced more or less equal proportion of staminate and pistillate flowers across the fields and days studied. This kind of information may help the farmers to manage pollination services in their fields as well as to predict a realistic yield.Keywords
Benincasa hispida, Cucurbita maxima, Flower Sex Expression, Momordica charantia, Pollination.References
- Rai, M., Pandey, S. and Kumar, S., Cucurbit research in India: a retrospect. In Proceedings of the IX EUCARPIA Meeting on Genetics and Breeding of Cucurbitaceae (ed. Pitrat M.), INRA, Avignon, 2008, pp. 285–294.
- Bodlah, I. and Waqar, M., Pollinators visiting summer vegetables ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula), bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) and brinjal (Solanum melongena). Asian J. Biol., 2013, 1, 8–12.
- Kumar, P., Sundaravadivelan, B. S., Anburaj, J. and Kuberan, T., Insect visitors of pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima Duch., in relation to temperature and relative humidity. J. Agric. Technol., 2012, 8, 501–513.
- Malek, M. A. and Chowdhury, N. U., Effect of irrigation and pollination on the yield of pumpkin. J. Agrofor. Environ., 2011, 5, 41–44.
- Nidagundi, B. R. and Sattagi, H. N., Pollinator fauna and foraging activity of bees in bitter gourd. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci., 2005, 18, 982–985.
- Saeed, S., Malik, S. A., Dad, K., Sajjad, A. and Ali, M., In search of the best native pollinators for bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) pollination in Multan, Pakistan. Pak. J. Zool., 2012, 44, 1633–1641.
- Subhakar, G., Sreedevi, K., Manjula, K. and Reddy, N. P. E., Pollinator diversity and abundance in bitter gourd, Momordica charantia Linn. Pest Manage. Hortic. Ecosyst., 2012, 17, 23–27.
- Ashworth, L. and Galetto, L., Differential nectar production between male and female flowers in a wild cucurbit: Cucurbita maxima sp. andreana (Cucurbitaceae). Can. J. Bot., 2002, 80, 1203–1208.
- Hoehn, P., Tscharntke, T., Tylianakis, J. M. and SteffanDewenter, I., Functional group diversity of bee pollinators increases crop yield. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B., 2008, 275, 2283–2291.
- Julier, H. E. and Roulston, T. H., Wild bee abundance and pollination service in cultivated pumpkins: farm management, nesting behavior and landscape effects. J. Econ. Entomol., 2009, 102, 563–573.
- Petersen, J. D., Reiners, S. and Nault, B. A., Pollination services provided by bees in pumpkin fields supplemented with either Apis mellifera or Bombus impatiens or not supplemented. PLoS ONE, 2013, 8, e69819.
- R Development Core Team, R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, 2007; www.r-project.org
- denNijs, A. P. M. and Miotay, P., Fruit and seed set in the cucumber (Cucumis sativs L.) in relation to pollen tube growth, sex type, and parthenocarpy. Gertenbauwissenschaft, 1991, 56, 46–49.
- Stapleton, S. C., Wien, H. C. and Morse, R. A., Flowering and fruit set of pumpkin cultivars under field conditions. HortScience, 2000, 35, 1074–1077.
- Dafni, A., Kevan, P. G. and Husband, B. C., Practical Pollination Biology, Enviroquest, Cambridge, 2005, p. 583.
- Lanta, V. and Leps, J., Effect of functional group richness and species richness in manipulated productivity–diversity studies: a glasshouse pot experiment. Acta Oecol., 2006, 29, 85–96.
- Pinkus-Rendon, M. A., Parra-Tabla, V. and Melendez-Ramirez, V., Floral resource use and interactions between Apis mellifera and native bees in cucurbit crops in Yucatan, Mexico. Can. Entomol., 2005, 137, 441–449.
- Shivanna, K. R. and Tandon, R., Reproductive Ecology of Flowering Plants: A Manual, Springer, 2014, p. 170.
- Vidal, M. D. G., Jong, D. D., Wien, H. C. and Morse, R. A., Nectar and pollen production in pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.). Rev. Bras. Bot., 2006, 29, 267–273.
- Kuriakose, G., Sinu, P. A. and Shivanna, K. R., Domestication of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) in Western Ghats, India: divergence in productive traits and a shift in major pollinators. Ann. Bot., 2009, 103, 727–733.
- Sinu, P. A. and Shivanna, K. R., Pollination biology of large cardamom (Amomum subulatum). Curr. Sci., 2007, 93, 548–552.
- Sinu, P. A. and Shivanna, K. R., Pollination ecology of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) in the Western Ghats, India. J. Trop. Ecol., 2007, 23, 493–496
- Sinu, P. A., Kuriakose, G. and Shivanna, K. R., Is the bumblebee (Bombus haemorrhoidalis) the only pollinator of large cardamom in central Himalayas, India? Apidologie, 2011, 42, 690–695.
- Garibaldi, L. A. et al., Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey bee abundance. Science, 2013, 339, 1608– 1611.
- Klein, A.-M., Vaissie`re, B. E., Cane, J. H., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Cunningham, S. A., Kremen, C. and Tscharntke, T., Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B., 2007, 274, 303–313.
- NeSmith, D. S., Hoogenboom, G. and Groff, D. W., Staminate and pistillate flower production of summer squash in response to planting date. HortScience, 1994, 29, 256–257.
- Nitsch, J. P., Kurtz, E. B., Liverman, J. L. and Went, F. W., The development of sex expression in cucurbit flowers. Am. J. Bot., 1952, 39, 32–43.