Pollen fertility of Myrianthus arboreus (P. Beauv) in five localities in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Pollen fertility could have a significant effect on fruit quality and seed production in most plants. This study was carried out to evaluate the pollen fertility of Myrianthus arboreus in the localities of Abengourou, Adzopé, Daloa, Diabo and Zouan Hounien. The vegetation of these localities, consisting largely of forest, has disappeared in favor of fallow land and orchards. Rainfall varies between 1000 and 2200 mm of water per year with an average monthly temperature of 27 °C. The soil is generally ferralitic. One hundred and fifty plants, aged at least 5 years, were evaluated in 2018. Pollen viability was assessed by staining with 1.5 % acetocarmine. Germination was tested in vitro, on two different culture media. The results revealed that the viability rates of pollen grains of plants from Abengourou, Adzopé, Daloa, Diabo and Zouan Hounien were 94.35 %, 93.52 %, 93.59 %, 65.35 % and 93.33 %, respectively. The germination rates with medium 1 were 93.29 % for Abengourou plants, 92.12 % for Adzopé, 92.95 % for Daloa, 63.29 % for Diabo and 92.14 % for Zouan Hounien. Concerning medium 2, the rates were 91.73 %, 90.56 %, 90.51 %, 61.87 % and 90.36 %, respectively, for the plants of Abengourou, Adzopé, Daloa, Diabo and Zouan Hounien. The correlation test carried out on the two fertility parameters revealed the existence of a strong positive correlation between the viability rate and the pollen germination rate.