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Role of pollen production in mating success in some tropical tree species

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Abstract

This study was conducted to estimate the amount of pollen produced by three entomophilous and two ornithophilous tropical woody taxa. It seeks to establish their reproductive success in relation to each other and contribution to the concentration of pollen in the air. The taxa selected were Bombax ceiba, Erythrina stricta (both ornithophilous), Lagerstroemia speciosa, Mesua ferrea and Schima wallichii (all entomophilous); which were studied in three different calendar years (2010, 2011 and 2012). M. ferrea produced the highest number of pollen grains per tree (3.85–6.60 × 1010) and B. ceiba highest number of pollen grains per anther (18,610 ± 1,189.49). The pollen grains produced were estimated to be about 100 million per tree in all the studied species except M. ferrea, which produced about 10 billion pollen grains per tree. There were both good and poor production years in all the studied species. During the course of the 3-year study, B. ceiba, E. stricta and S. wallichii produced maximum number of pollen grains per tree in the year 2011, whereas maximum pollen production was observed in M. ferrea in the year 2010. However, the 2 years (2010 and 2012) mass production was observed in L. speciosa. During the high pollen production years, the fruit setting was also recorded to be high. It is interesting to point out that in E. stricta, the fruit setting was 88.5 and 91.72 % higher (i.e. 39.12 ± 3.63 %) in the year 2011 as compared to the years 2010 (4.48 ± 0.63 %) and 2012 (3.24 ± 0.49 %), respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, New Delhi, vide its Project No. 38(1186)/08/EMR-II. The authors are thankful to Dr. Pramod Kumar Kewat, Department of Applied Mathematics, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, for the analysis of the data and to both the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript. The authors are also thankful to Dr. Arun Pant, Associate Professor in the Department of English, HNB Garhwal University at SRT campus, Badshahi Thaul, Tehri Garhwal for going through the MS deeply.

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  1. Vinod Prasad Khanduri & Chandra Mohan Sharma

    Present address: College of Forestry, Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, 249 199, Uttarakhand, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, India

    Vinod Prasad Khanduri & Kewat Sanjay Kumar

  2. Department of Botany, HNB Garhwal University, Garhwal, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India

    Chandra Mohan Sharma

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  1. Vinod Prasad Khanduri
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  2. Kewat Sanjay Kumar
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Correspondence to Vinod Prasad Khanduri.

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Khanduri, V.P., Kumar, K.S. & Sharma, C.M. Role of pollen production in mating success in some tropical tree species. Braz. J. Bot 38, 107–112 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-014-0114-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-014-0114-x

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