ISHS Acta Horticulturae 636: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Key Processes in the Growth and Cropping of Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees
INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF NECTAR SECRETION IN THE FLOWERS OF PLUM CV. 'REINE-CLAUDE D'ALTHANN' |
| Authors: | A. Horváth, ZS. Orosz-Kovács |
| Keywords: | floral attractiveness, floral biology, insect attraction, Prunus |
| Abstract:
Floral nectar production (μl) and nectar refractive index (%) were studied hourly from 08.00 to 18.00 hours in the flowers of plum cv. ‘Reine-Claude d’Althann’ in a Hungarian cultivar collection. The aim of this study was to determine the insect attraction capacity of flowers in different ontogenetic stages and to describe if there is any individual variance from the point of view of pollination strategy in this self-sterile plum cultivar. The floral biological type of this cultivar is homogamy beginning with protogyny, however exposed stigma positions were not detected. In a few flowers, homogamy was observed. Young flowers preceding pollen shedding were protogynous, because only stigma secretion was observed. Later, in the anther dehiscence phase, flowers became homogamous. Flowers attracted bees both with their nectar and the pollen on offer. Nectar was secreted at 09.00-10.00 and 18.00 hours , its amount varied between 0.1 and 12.0 μl. The refraction values were between 3-23 %. As it is well known from the literature, six hours after the secretory peak at 09.30 hours there should have been another maximum, at 15.30 hours. The lack of the afternoon secretory peak may be due to the dry, warm and windy weather. The majority of flowers secreted nectar uniformly, significant differences were not observed, except for a few flowers. The amount of secretory product was variable. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
