FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN CASHEW

ISHS Acta Horticulturae 108: International Cashew Symposium

FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN CASHEW

Authors:

K.N. MURTHY, K. VIJAYA KUMAR, R.S.N. PILLAI, P.M. KUMARAN

Abstract:
The flowering behaviour and nut set of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) were investigated. Ten units of 30 cm² area per tree at different heights and sides of a tree in fifteen healthy bearing trees of almost same age group were studied. Observation per unit area on number of male flowers (1766.04), number of bisexual flowers (61.99), number of nuts set (1.40), percentage of bisexual flowers to male flowers (4.12), percentage of nuts set to bisexual flowers (4.57) and number of panicles (flowering shoots) (4.55) were made. Correlation coefficients were worked out between the observed characters.

Between number of panicles and number of flowers (0.0085)
Between number of panicles and number of bisexual flowers (0.2028)
Between number of panicles and number of nuts set (0.1661)
Between number of male flowers and bisexual flowers (0.0810)
Between number of male flowers and number of nuts set (0.0119)
Between number of bisexual flowers and number of nuts set (0.2301)

The correlation coefficients (i) between number of panicles and bisexual flowers, and (ii) between number of bisexual flowers and numbers of nuts set were statistically significant.