COMPARISON OF SEED GERMINATION IN MANGIFERA INDICA L.’HADEN’ AND ‘MANILA’ VARIETIES

‘Haden’ and ‘Manila’ are, respectively, monoembryonic and polyembryonic varieties of mango, that are cultivated in Mexico.
In ‘Manila’ one zygotic embryo and several nucellar embryos are present in the same seed while in ‘Haden’ only a single zygotic embryo is present. ‘Manila’ variety has been preferentially used as tutor for Florida varieties in productive orchards while ‘Haden’ fruits are successfully exported.
The objective of the present work is to compare the germination of seeds from ‘Haden’ and ‘Manila’ varieties during the years 2003 and 2004 in order to better understand the different reproductive strategies of this species, and to improve the management of orchards.
The ‘Haden’ variety always germinates faster than ‘Manila’ and reached high germination percentages, 75% and 100% for 2003 and 2004 respectively. ‘Manila’ variety behaved very different from one year to the next; in 2003 germination started at day 7 and reached only 58% germination capacity.
It is interesting to note that more than one embryo (2-4) germinated in some seeds but the average was approximately one embryo per seed in 2004 and two in 2003. Germination capacity of the ‘Haden’ variety is the same irrespective of the size.
In the case of ‘Manila’, the germination capacity appears to be modulated by the seed size with the larger seed germinating faster and more efficiently than the smaller ones.
The same is observed in the embryos from the same seed.
The size of the samples however did not allow to establish a clear statistical difference.

VIII International Mango Symposium

C. Barbosa, C. Rios, D. Flores, L. Perez-Flores, F.J. Fernández, L. Ponce de León

Mangifera indica, germination, rootstock, recalcitrant seeds

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.820.33