BIOLOGIA FLORAL E VIABILIDADE DE PÓLEN EM CULTIVARES DE CAQUIZEIRO (Diospyros kaki L.) E Diospyros virginiania L.

Abstract

RESUMO - FLORAL BIOLOGY AND POLLEN VIABILITY IN JAPANESE PERSIMMON CULTIVARS (Diospyros kaki L.) AND Diospyros virginiana L.ABSTRACT -Persimmon tree is a very complex plant regarding floral biology, because it can present three types of flower (female, male or hermaphrodite) or only female as in the commercial cultivars. The objective of this research was to study the flowering period, flower types and to estimate pollen grains viability in nine D. kaki cultivars and in D. virginiana. Cultivars Pomelo and Rama Forte were the earliest for flowering beginning. Cultivar Pomelo and D. virginiana produced male flowers with viable pollen. The nine studied D. kaki cultivars presented females flowers (also male in Pomelo) as expected in commercial cultivars. Unexpectedly, cultivar Mikado presented male flowers with viable pollen at the end of the flowering period, what had not been previously reported. Pollen viability was generally over 90% for Pomelo, Mikado and D. virginiana.

Phenology, yield and fruit quality of four persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) cultivars in So Paulos Midwest countryside, Brazil

“…A study developed in Eldorado do Sul (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) with persimmon trees, obtained the same result from "Pomelo" and "Rama Forte" crops, which required 50 days to reach full bloom stage, while "Fuyu" crops needed 62 days (Campos et al, 2015), corroborating the current study results. The precocity of "Pomelo" and "Rama Forte" cultivars, and late characteristics of the "Fuyu" ones, especially in the intermediate phenological stage, seems to be an intrinsic characteristic of these sorts of crops.…”

“…Floral persimmon trees habits are very complex. Depending on the cultivar, the plants may be monoecious, dioecious or hermaphrodites (Campos et al, 2015). Most commercial cultivars are dioecious and bear only female flowers, as observed in this study.…”

“…The presence of male flowers in "Pomelo" persimmon trees was expected. The flower biology of nine persimmon cultivars ("Costata", "Fuyu", "Kaoru", "Mikado", "Okira", "Pomelo", "Rama Forte", "Regina" and "Taubaté") was studied, and among them only "Pomelo" and "Mikado" presented flowers producing pollen (Campos et al, 2015). A breeding program developed by the Brazilian company Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC, Brazil) aiming to undemanding varieties to cold proved the "Pomelo" cultivar to be good male flower producers, ensuring self-pollination (Ojima et al, 1985).…”

“…This is due to the presence of 'Pomelo' cultivars acting as a pollination source to the other cultivars. Keeping plants producing male flowers with viable pollen production is an alternative used in Brazil to increase fruiting and thus increasing productivity (Campos et al, 2015).…”

Phenology and Floral Biology of Diospyros sericea A. DC. (Ebenaceae): Inconstant Males May Be behind an Enigma of Dioecy

“…Moreover, we identified the presence of vestigial reproductive organs of the opposite sex in both female (staminodes) and male (pistillodes) flowers. This had also been described in the species [ 38 , 42 , 43 ], as well as in several species of the genus Diospyros [ 44 , 45 , 46 ] and of the Ebenaceae family [ 7 , 36 ]. This evidence confirms that D. sericea is structurally dioecious.…”