Phenological behaviour and reproductive biology of Melia composita
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Authors
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Vishal Johar
Department of Forestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004. Haryana,
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R.S. Dhillon
Department of Forestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004. Haryana,
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K.S. Bangarwa
Department of Forestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004. Haryana,
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Ajit .
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi-284 003. U.P., India
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A.K. Handa
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi-284 003. U.P., India
Keywords:
Breeding system, Burma dek, pollination, reproductive capacityAbstract
Studies on reproductive biology of Burma dek (Melia composita) indicated that mild defoliation started in last week of November and continued up to end of February, majority being from January 13-28. Leaf primordial started appearing after all the leaves had shed off. Within a week of new foliage appearance, the panicle with small protruding buds appeared. The floral buds took 18-28 days to come to bloom. More than 80 per cent floral buds opened between 0800-0900 h. The number of days required from panicle initiation to fruit maturity ranged from 243-264 days. Fruit set under open-pollination was comparable to the fruit set in self-pollinated and non-significant differences in growth characters of self versus open pollinated progenies also formed a strong evidence for self-pollinating behaviour. The molecular studies also revealed that Burma dek is predominantly self fertilizing species.
