KIWIFRUIT FLOWER BIOLOGY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON FRUIT SET

Fruit set in kiwifruit has been related to its flower biology.
The effective pollination period (EPP), determined in the conditions of Northern Spain, is restricted to the first four days after anthesis.
Pollen tube growth does not account for this short period, since pollen tubes reach the base of the style two days after pollination and the ovules one day later.
This growth is assisted by an abundant secretion that is present all along the pistilar tract and is produced out of the pistil starch reserves.
However, the EPP appears to be restricted by the duration of the stigmatic receptivity.
As the stigma ages, papillae lose turgidity until eventually these cells break liberating their cellular contents into the germination medium.
Pollen germination is drastically inhibited concomitantly with this papillar rupture.
To palliate this short EPP, we have selected 2 male clones that overlap their flowering period with the female cultivar ‘Hayward’, and have an abundant production of germinable pollen.

III International Symposium on Kiwifruit

M.V. González, M. Coque, M. Herrero

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.444.66