OVARY STARCH RESERVES AND REPRODUCTIVE PROCESS IN AVOCADO

In avocado, only a very small fraction of flowers produced at anthesis are able to set fruits due to a massive drop of flowers and developing fruitlets.
To explore the implications of the nutritive status of the flower in the reproductive process, in this work starch content in avocado pistils has been examined in pollinated and non-pollinated flowers at anthesis and during the days following anthesis.
Each flower was histochemically processed to be observed under the microscope after staining with I2KI for starch reserves.
Starch content in the stained preparations was measured with the help of an image analysis system attached to the microscope.
Flowers at anthesis were rich in starch, which was widely compartmentalized into the different pistil tissues.
While no external differences could be recorded among flowers at anthesis, a wide variability could be observed in starch content.
Pistil weight increased in the days following anthesis in both pollinated and non-pollinated flowers, and this initial development appears to be independent of pollination.

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on Plant Physiology from Cell to Fruit Production System

M.L. Alcaraz , J.I. Hormaza, J. Rodrigo

Persea Americana Mill., pollination, fruit set, progamic phase

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.932.11