Pollination biology of coffea liberica W. Bull ex Hiern var. liberica in Lipa, Batangas, Philippines / Analinda Manila Fajardo ; Cleofas R. Cervancia, chair, advisory committee.

Date

6-2011

Abstract

The floral biology and pollination of Coffea liberica var. liberica in an agroecosystem at Lipa, Batangas, Philippines was studied. The inflorescences are non-terminal and blooming in asynchronous. The flowers are herkogamous and highly variable. They are short-lived and the anthers fully represented only on the first day. Anthesis is from 0500-1200h peaking at 0800h. The maximum attraction distance of the flowers is at 87.70 ± 11.05 cm. Nectar volume averaged at 9.27 ± 3.90 ul while its calorie content based on the energy contributed by sucrose is 1.91 ± 0.80 cal/uL. The nectar contained high amount of sugars, phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanidns and saponins. Alkaloids were absent while anti-oxidant activity is present. The pollen grains were simple and numerous with high viabilty of 91.16 ± 4.11 %. The germination rate of pollen grains using differential sucrose solutions is low at 64.65 ± 9.53 %. Majority of the pollen had moderate amounts of starch (62.63%) and lipuds (70.61%). Only three pollinator visits were needed for effective pollen deposition. Pollination was through entomophily with pollen and nectar as rewards. Floral visitors were 22 insect species belonging to 15 families and 5 genera. Apis mellifera, Apis Cerana and Trigona biroi were the most frequent visitors but only A. mellifera and A. cerana were considered as the true pollinators. Pollen viability and germination, stigmatic receptivity, nectar production and floral visitation were all found to be significantly highest at 0800h. Floral characters and indices, such as pollen-ovule ratio, outcrossing index, index of self-incompatibility and selfing rate, indicate that the plant is obligately xenogamous and highly self-incompatible, thus requiring outcrossing.

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Botany

College

Graduate School (GS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Cleofas R. Cervancia

Committee Member

Cleofas R. Cervancia, Antonio C. Laurena, Leonardo M. Florece, Inocencio E. Buot Jr.

Language

English

LC Subject

Coffee, Coffee growers, Coffee industry, Botany Institute of Biological Sciences

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 996 2011 B62 F35

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