Abstract
The present study was conducted during 2018 and 2019 at the ICAR-National Research Centre on Litchi Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India, to standardize the number of flowers to be pollinated per panicle and to assess its effect on success of hybrids in litchi. Four diverse parents viz., ‘Shahi’, ‘China’, ‘Gandaki Lalima’ and ‘Bedana’ were selected. The study showed that retention of the least number of flowers (10–20) per panicle for pollination resulted in the highest fruit set and ultimately the highest number of fruits at harvest. Large sized female flowers ensured maximum fruit retention till harvest. Fruit set was recorded as maximum in different time periods of pollination, which indicated the effective pollination period in ‘Shahi’, ‘Bedana’ and ‘Gandaki Lalima’ to be 6–7 AM, 6–9 AM and 6–10 AM, respectively. The seed weight was significantly reduced in the progeny in all crosses where ‘Bedana’ was used as the male parent, but pulp content increased, indicating the metaxenia effect of the ‘Bedana’ cultivar on fruit characteristics. Low temperature during pollination enhanced fruit set in all the crosses, thereby establishing a negative and significant correlation among these factors. This information would help litchi breeders to select the best parents to be involved in hybridization programs, getting a higher number of hybrids and selecting high pulp content. This technology of retention of 10–20 flowers per panicle during pollination will increase the number of hybrid seeds, and this technology may boost hybridization programs in litchi.
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N. Lal, A. Kumar, A. Singh, E.S. Marboh, A. Gupta, S.D. Pandey and V. Nath declare that they have no competing interests.
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Lal, N., Kumar, A., Singh, A. et al. Standardization of Number of Flowers to Be Pollinated per Panicle for Hybridization in Litchi and Assessment of Effective Duration of Pollination. Erwerbs-Obstbau 65, 487–492 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10341-023-00835-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10341-023-00835-6