Importance of sepals in fruit and seed development in linseed (Linum usitatissimumL.)

✍ Scribed by D. P. S. Tomar; P. S. Deshmukh; S. K. Sinha

• Book ID: 104617725
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 393 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2336
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00038942

✦ Synopsis

The green sepals in linseed (Linum usitafissimum L.) persist till almost the time of fruit ripening.

Since the plant retains very few leaves and the fruits are better exposed to receive sunlight, the green sepals may be important in fruit and seed development.

Influence of the removal of 0, 1, 3 and 5 sepals on the day of anthesis, 7.15 and 25 days after anthesis on fruit and seed development wasexamined.

Excision ofall the fine sepals on the day ofanthesis stopped fruit and seed development in the varieties M 10 and NP (RR) 45 but in Mukta the reduction was about 55 "/,. Removal of three sepals also decreased fruit growth in Mukta and NP (RR) 45. The effect of removal of sepals was more pronounced on the number of seeds per fruit than on seed weight. Sepals fixed 14C0, and translocated 14C to seeds. However, the 14C0, fixation was maximum at early stages of fruit development, whereas a higher percentage of the fixed 14C was translocated at later stages of growth.

It is suggested that the sepal size in linseed could be a useful selection criterion.