ISSN 2167-0447
International Journal of Agricultural Sciences ISSN: 2167-0447 Vol. 2 (3), pp. 121-127, March, 2012. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Analysis of floral Biology of Vicia villosa Roth. (Fabaceae)
Hassen1 Hamadi, Zoghlami-Khelil1 Aziza, Ben Youssef1 Salah, Chtewi1 Khouloud and El-Bok2 Safia
1 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique de Tunisie. Laboratoire des Productions Animales et Fourragères. Rue, Hédi Karray. 2049 Ariana, Tunisie.
2 Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Laboratoire de Génétique des populations et Bioressources. 2092 ; El Manar 2, Tunisie.
*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: [email protected]
Received 17 December, 2011; Accepted 23 March, 2012
Abstract
An analysis of the of sexual reproduction ability of Vicia villosa Roth. have been investigated. The biological material consisted of a tunisian cultivar (Sejenane) and two accessions originating from ICARDA (International Center of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas): acc. 2565 and acc. 3615. Pod formation rate (P/F), number of seeds per pod (SPP), and the number of empty pods per plant (NEP) were higher under free pollination than in self-fertilization without release, suggesting that this species is characterized by a preferential allogamy. That Allogamy seems to be ensured by a sporophytic auto-incompatibility. The gap between the number of seeds per pod (2.6 seeds on average) and the number of ovaries per gynaecium (4 ovaries on average) may reflect a fertilization malfunctioning in Vicia villosa Roth. The sporophytic auto-incompatibility, associated to both low pollinic germination rate (24 %) and flowers losses caused by gathering bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) constitute the main factors explaining the low fertility of this forage species.
Keywords: Vicia villosa, free pollination, self pollination, auto-incompatibility, pollinic fertility.