Pollination Biology of Palmyrah Palm (Borassus flabellifer L.)

Palms are woody monocotyledons in the family Arecaceae which is placed in the order Arecales. They are a natural group of plants with fossil records dating from the late crustaceous and with a characteristic appearance that enables them to be recognized easily, despite occasional confusion with Cycads or Cordylines. An experiment on pollination biology of palmyrah palm was conducted during February to June, which was the prominent flowering season in Killikulam. Five male and five female adult palms were selected for this experiment. The results revealed that the maximum receptivity (100 per cent) of the stigma was observed one day after anthesis. The mean length of pollen tube was the maximum of 19.5 μm during the second day of germination followed by 16.6 μm on the third day of germination. The percentage of fertile pollen was high with 85.0 to 94.0 per cent, while that of the percentage of sterile pollen was low with 6.0 to 15.0 per cent. The mean percentage of fertile and sterilepollen was found to be 88.6 and 11.4 percent respectively. Based on the appearance of exine of the pollen grains two distinct morphology viz., globular and ellipsoidal shape was identified.