Download flowering behaviour of kagzi lime under sub

Agric, Sci. Digest, 22 (4) : 252 - 254, 2002
FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR OF KAGZI LIME
(CITRUS AURANTIFOLIA, SWINGLE)
UNDER SUB-HUMID TROPICAL CLIMATE
S.M. Ghawade, D.M. Panchbhai, B.J. Jad~a6, S.R. Katole and S.M. Dadmal
All India Coordinated Research Project (T.F.) on Citrus,
.
Dr, P.D.K.V., Akola - 444104, India
ABSTRACT
Studies on the parameters of flowering in 12 year old Kagzi lime trees during 1998-99 revealed
that there were only two main flowering seasons, the first and the major one occurring in DecemberFebruary and second one in June-July. Majority of the shoots that bore flowers were normal in vigour
as measured in terms of length of shoot. The Kagzi lime bore flower mostly on lateral shoots and in the
apical region of shoots.
The citrus species are known to flower
several times in a year, with Vidarbha region
have no exeption. The time of flowering is
reported to vary with temperature (Webber,
1943). The knowledge on seasons of flowering:
and the flowering potential is essential for any
attempt on regulation, of flowering and fruit
maturity. Lime is one of the commercial fruits
in Vidarbha, perticularly in Akola, Buldana,
Washim and Amaravati districts. There is an
urgent need for regulation of cropping and fruit
maturity in this fruit. In this paper results of
the study on periodicity and extent of flowering
in kagzi line species are compared.
shoots were randomly selected during January
and June on four trees and they were grouped
into three vigour, groups, viz., non vigorous,
normal and vigorous based on their length
(Hittamani and Rao, 1977). The proportion
of flowering shoots under different vigour
groups and the flowering potential of each
group was worked out.
Season of flowering: Two main
flowering seasons were observed the first
constituting more than 50 per cent of total
number of flowerings produced in the year was
during December-February period. The highest
number of flowers was produced in the month
of January (Ambia bahar). The second main
flowering season (Con'stitunng about 25 per
cent of total number of flowers) was dUring
June-July (Mrig bahar). Besides these two main
flowering seasons, sparse flowering occurred
during other months of the except in the month
of April, May and November (Singh and Tomar,
1949). They also observed the production of
flowers throughout the year with two main
seasons under Kanpur conditions.
The investigation were carried out
during 1998-99 (for three seasons) in the
project orchard, All India Coordinated Research
Project, on Citrus, Dr. PD.K.V. Akola. 12 year
old uniform trees of Kagzi lime (Citrus
aurantilo/ia Swingle) as non - replicated trial
grown on sandy loam soils. One hundred newly
emerged shoots were selected and tagged
during every growth flush on four trees. Kagzi
lime produce three vegetative growth (January,
June-July and Sept.-October)in a· year.
Vigour of the flowering shoots :
Observation were recorded at fortnightly Majority of the flowering shoots were normal
intervals on the age of shoots and number of in vigour, (Table 2.) based on the length of
flower buds produced (Table 1).
shoots. The proportion of the non vigorous'
With a view to finding out the shoots (the shoots which were less than 2cm
relationship between vigour of flowering shoot in length) was marketlY,lower accounting for
and magnitude of flowering, 200 flowering 19.5 to 14.5 per cent of 'total number of
Vol. 22, No.4, 2002
253
Table 1. Extent of flowering in 100 newly emerged shoots during different months of the year in Kagzi lime
Month
Mean no. of flower bud produced
January, 1998
Februar, 1998
March,1998
April,1998
May, 1998
June, 1999
July. 1999
August, 1999
September, 1999
October, 1999
November, 1999
Total
Number
Percentage
183
195
24
00
00
87
143
41
24
22
20.56
21.93
2.69
0.0
0.0
9.77
16.06
4.62
2.69
0.0
19.21
100.00
171
890
Table 2. Vigour' of flowering shoots in Kagzi lime in the two main flowering seasons
Flowering
season
January
June
Vigour of flowering shoots
Total no. of
shoots studied
Non vigorous
(length of shoot is
less than 2cm)
200
200
Normal
(length of shoot is
2cm to 8cm)
No.
%
No.
29
39
19.5
19.5
133
124
Vigorous
(length of shoot
more than 8cm)
%
No..
66.5
62.0
38
37
19.0
18.5
, Based on the length of shoot as per the method of Hittamani and Rao (l976a)
Table 3. Proportion of different types of flowering shoots in Kagzi lime in the two main flowering seasons
Flowering.
season
Number' of flowering shoots under different classes
Total no. of
shoots studied
Origin
Terminal
Lateral
Leafy
Solitary
Cluster of
Apical
f1owc>1
Lower
auxiliclTY
[loth apical
dnd lower
ulixiliary
January
June
100
100
19
8
81
92
76
61
24
39
11
8
89
92
63
51
8
11
29
38
• Number represents percentage also.
flowering shoots). The corresponding figures
for the proportion of vigorous shoots, (the
shoots which were more than 8cm in length)
were of the order of 21.5 to 23.00 per cent.
Similar observations were reported in
grapefruits (Ahmed, 1962-64) and sweet lime.
The types of flowering shoots and
their proportion: The shoots that bore flowers
were observed to be of different to types. These
shoots could be categorized into 4 groups based
·Qh·their place of origin; presence or absence
of leaves etc. as terminal or lateral depending
upon, place of origin; leafy of leafless due to
presence or absence of leaves; solitary or in
cluster based on number of flowers in the
whorls; apical or lower auxillary or both apical
and lower auxillary on account of position of
flowers. The proportion of lateral flowering
shoots was much higher (more than 80 per
cent) than that of terminal shoots (Table 3).
254
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE DIGEST
Similar trend was also noted in respect of
vegetative shoots (Hittamani and Rao 1976).
Randhawa and Khanna (1963) in Grapefruits
and Hamlin orange. With regard to absence of
leaves, 24 to 38 per cent of flowering shoots
were found to be leaf less flowers were bore
mostly in clusters. Only 9 to 15 per cent of
shoots bore solifary flowers. In case of position
of flower; 53 to 64 per cent of shoots bore
flowers apically while the proportion of shoots
that bore flower auxiliary was very less
accounting for only 5 to 11 per cent. About
25 to 31 per cent of shoots bore the flowers
both apically as well as auxiliary.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, S. (1962-64). Punjab FruitJ., 26-27: 178-197.
Hittamani, S.v. and Rao, M.M. (1977). MysoreJ. Agril. Sci., 11(3): 99-103.
Hittamani, S.V. and Rao, M.M. (1976). South Indian Hort., 24: 94-95..
Randhawa, G.S. and Khanna, R.c. (1963). IndianJ. Hort., 20: 93-103.
Singh, S.N. and Tomar, B.S. (1949). Indian Farming, 10: 532-38.
Webber, H.J. (1943). The Citrus Industry Vol. I. Univ. Calif. Press, Berkely.