PJB-2019-939
FLORAL BEHAVIOUR AND UNIQUE AUTONOMOUS SELF-POLLINATION OF PASSIFLORA SPECIES (PASSION FRUIT)
SHIAMALA DEVI RAMAIYA
Abstract
Passiflora species generally known as passion fruit may well be the most fascinating plants of the tropics. This plant is known to be self-incompatible in its native environment and it affects the fruit production. Extend of passion fruit set is highly dependent on effective pollinators such as carpenter bees and honey bees. However, in East Malaysia, there was good fruit sets, although lesser number of pollinators visiting the farm or sometimes absence. It is important to study the reproduction mechanisms of Passiflora plants because this factor reflect the quantity of the fruit produced. Therefore, the present study are aim to evaluate the floral behaviours, reproductive mechanism, fruit production and nectar content of locally grown Passiflora species with the condition of lesser effective pollinators. Based on the observation, Passiflora species classified as “steady-state species†that exhibit constant production of few flowers, each day lasting only one day. The studied species exhibited an unique autonomous self-pollination, involving the movement of styles to lead the stigma faced the anthers during flower blooming. This is an important phenomenon in order to reduce the distance between the stigma and anther, aid for pollination and provided reproductive assurance to the species. Passiflora flowers exhibited three types of style characteristics. Flowers with completely curved (CC) styles were commonly found in all the species (≥80% except in P. maliformis, 38.33%) and produced good fruit sets. As P. edulis growing in its native is reported to be self-incompatible and have become self-compatible in the present study showed that evolution of these features in is important factor for its adaptability and survivability thus crucial to propagate optimally in local conditions.
To Cite this article:
Download
