Flowering Pattern and Floral Architecture of Wild and Cultivated Varieties of Jamun (Syzygium Cumini L.) for Pollination and Productivity
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Eco. Env. & Cons. 26 (November Suppl. Issue) : 2020; pp. (S408-S414) Copyright@ EM International ISSN 0971–765X Flowering pattern and floral architecture of Wild and cultivated varieties of Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.) for pollination and productivity Eswarappa, G.* and Somashekar, R.K. Department of Environmental Science, Jnanabharathi Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056, Karnataka, India (Received 20 May, 2020; Accepted 8 June, 2020) ABSTRACT Flowering pattern and phenology of crops are very important in management, productivity and various ecosystem services. Very little is known about the phenology of wild and cultivated varieties of Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.). Four cultivated varieties (GKVK-1, GKVK-2, K-45 and N-20) and two wild varieties at Ponnampet and GKVK locations (wild S. cumini at Ponnampet and wild S. cumini at GKVK) were selected for this study. The initiation of inflorescence from inter nodal region of tagged branches of Syzygium cumini variety GKVK -1 was observed during 2nd week of January followed by GKVK-2, wild S. cumini at Ponnampet and wild S. cumini at GKVK, Bengaluru during 3rd week of January and in K-45, N-20 during 4th week of January 2018. The number of days required from initiation of inflorescence to first flower opening ranged from 40±0.82 (K-45) to 46±0.82 (wild S. cumini at Ponnampet). The initiation of flowering, 50 and 100 per cent flowering was observed in the 1st, 3rdand 4th week of March respectively in all cultivated varieties (GKVK-1, GKVK-2, K-45 and N-20) and wild S.cumini at Ponnampet, wild S. cumini at GKVK with the exception of variety GKVK-1. The flower opening pattern of wild and cultivated varieties of S.cumini was clearly indicated that once, the opening floral buds started in an inflorescence, it is continued upto upto six days in wild S. cumini at GKVK, K-45, N-20 varieties and up to seven days in wild S. cumini at Ponnampet, GKVK-1 and GKVK-2 varieties. These findings revealed as taggered pattern of flower opening in S. cumini inflorescence for the period of one week. There are eight ovules per flower were observed with longevity of flower lasting for three days and the wilting of flower and dropping of stamens were observed at 4th day after flower opening. The floral architectural differences especially, the difference in the length of stamen and carpel and also the extension of stigma out of the stamens indicated the need of cross pollination by external agents for proper fruit set and fruit yield. Key words : Jamun, Syzygium cumini, Wild and cultivated varieties, Flowering pattern, Floral architecture Introduction plants of India (Reddy and Reddy, 2008). This spe- cies is endemic to south East Asia and India, but Among several tropical fruits in India, jamun also reported to be growing in Hawaii, Australia, (Syzygium cumini L.) is an evergreen multipurpose Philippines, Kenya, Florida (Swami et al., 2012; tree belonging to the family Myrtaceae, consisting of Solomon et al., 2014). It has gained tremendous im- over 75 species and is native of India. A list of 18 portance and recognition in the recent past because Syzygium species included in the international of its medicinal and nutritional properties. Tradi- union for the conservation of nature (IUCN) Red list tionally, jamun fruits, leaves, seeds and bark are all ESWARAPPA AND SOMASHEKAR S409 used in ayurvedic medicine in India (Chaudhary The total days required for the initiation of inflores- and Mukhopadhyay, 2012). The bark contains cence to first flower opening was calculated. The tannins and carbohydrates, accounting for its long- numbers of floral buds opened per inflorescence in term usage as an astringent to combat ailments par- all the branches of selected four trees were visually ticularly dysentery(Swami et al., 2012). A glycoside observed starting from the period of first flower in the seed, jamboline, is considered to have anti- opening till the end of flowering. The categorisation diabetic properties. Jamun fruit, seeds and pulp of 50% and 100% flowering was made based on the have been reported to serve various purposes in total number of inflorescences developed and the diabetic patients, like lowering blood glucose levels total number of flowers opened. The flower opening and delaying diabetic complications, including neu- pattern was studied on randomly selected four in- ropathy and cataracts (Ayyanar and Subash - Babu, florescence having matured floral buds in four dif- 2012). Jamun is most often recognized as an adju- ferent directions. The numbers of floral buds in each vant therapy in type-2 diabetes (Swami et al., 2012). inflorescence was counted and observed daily till all However, the information regarding flower open- the floralbuds became completely open. On the ing pattern and floral architecture of wild and culti- evening of each day, the number of flowers opened vated varieties of jamun (S. cumini L.) in relation to was removed to avoid confusion. The architectural pollination and productivity is limited. The knowl- characteristics of the flower such as flower length, edge of the phenology of a particular crop is impor- flower width, number of flowers per inflorescence, tant for proper management, productivity and vari- number of sepals per flower, number of petals per ous ecosystem and pollination services; hence the flower, number of stamens per flower, length of sta- present study was undertaken. men, length of carpeland number of ovules per flower were recorded in the laboratory by taking the Materials and Methods cross section of ovary (Pias and Guitian, 2001; Grif- fin and Barrett, 2002). The ten freshly opened flow- The observations on initiation of inflorescence, first ers were randomly selectedfrom the inflorescence flower opening, number of days taken for first offour trees each of wild and cultivated varieties of flower opening, period of commencement of flower- S. cumini were tagged. The freshness of the tagged ing, time of 50% and 100% flowering, average num- flower and stamen drop was visually observed from ber of floral buds per inflorescence and flower open- the day of tagging and longevity of each sampled ing pattern were recorded on four cultivated variet- flower was determined. ies of S. cumini viz., GKVK-1, GKVK-2, K-45, N-20 Statistical Analysis in jamun orchard which were of six years old, planted at the spacing of 5m x 5m during 2012 and The results were analyzed and descriptive statistics on wild S. cumini of more than twelve years old at were done using SPSS 12.0 (SPSS Inc., an IBM Com- Regional Horticultural Research and Extension Cen- pany, Chicago, USA) and graphs were generated tre, College of Horticulture; UHS sub campus, using Sigma Plot 7 (Systat Software Inc., Chicago, GKVK, Bengaluru and also at College of forestry, USA). Ponnampet, Kodagu districton wild S. cumini of more than fifteen year old. The four randomly se- Results and Discussion lected branches of wild and cultivated varieties of S. cumini in four different directions were observed The observation on flowering behaviour of wild and daily starting from January 2018 for the develop- cultivated varieties of S.cumini includes the initia- ment of sprout at the inter nodal region and date of tion of sprout at the internodal region of the sprout initiated was recorded and treated as period branches for the growth and development of inflo- for the inflorescence initiation. The four developed rescence. The sprouts at the emerging stage were sprout from the branches of wild and cultivated selected randomly from four branches in four differ- varieties of S. cumini were selected in four different ent directions from wild S. cumini at Ponnampet, directions were tagged and observed daily for open- wild S. cumini at GKVK, cultivated varieties; GKVK- ing of first flower. The date of first flower opened 1, GKVK-2, K-45 and N-20 were visually observed was recorded and treated as a day of first flower daily during January 2018. The results on flowering opening/ period of commencement of flowering. behaviour revealed that, initiation of the sprout in S410 Eco. Env. & Cons. 26 (November Suppl. Issue) : 2020 the tagged branches of wild S. cumini at Ponnampet GKVK-2 during 3rd week, in K-45 and N-20 during and wild S. cumini at GKVK location was observed 4th week of January. The first flower of fully grown during 3rd week of January and the first flower of inflorescence from the sprout of GKVK-1 was fully grown inflorescence from the same sprout was opened during 3rd week of February and the sprout opened during 1st week of March with a total dura- from GKVK-2,K-45 and N-20 was opened during 1st tion ranged from 45±2.2 (wild S. cumini at week of March with a total duration from initiation Ponnmpet) to46±0.82 (wild S. cumini at GKVK) of inflorescence to first flower opening was ranged days. Among the cultivated varieties, initiation of from 40±0.82(K-45) to 44±1.41 (GKVK-2) days (Plate the sprout in the tagged branches of GKVK-1was 1: a to e). It was clearly observed that, the number of observed in 2nd week of January where as in case of days taken for initiation of inflorescence to first Plate 1. Days required for initiation of inflorescence to first flower opening inwild and cultivated Varieties of S.cumini : a) Bud tagged at initiation stage b) to d): Bud elongation e) & f): Flower bud initiation g) Opening of flower. Table 1. Flowering behavior in wild and cultivated varieties of S. cumini at Ponnampet and GKVK during 2018 Wild/ Initiation of First No. of Period of Time of 50% Time of 100% cultivated inflorescence flower days initiation of flowering flowering varieties opening taken for flowering first flower opening Wild S.