Indehiscence expression and capsule anatomy in vernola
2004
Verdolini, F. | Anconetani, A. | Laureti, D. | Pascual-Villalobos, M.J.
Euphorbia lagascae Spreng. is a potential new industrial crop because of the synthesis of vernolic acid in about 65% of the total fatty acids in its seed oil. Breeding research in the 1990s gave rise to the indehiscent Vernola cultivar as opposed to a complete dehiscence of the wild types. With the aim to evaluate the environmental influence in the expression of the nonshattering trait, field trials were sown in spring and autumn in Murcia, Spain, and Ancona, Italy, during 2001 and 2002. To further examine the basis of partial indehiscence, a capsule wall histological study was also performed. There was a significant decrease (P < 0.01) from 86.9 to 67.9% in the number of capsules retained per plant in the spring sowing, when mister sprinklers were used to increase relative humidity (RH) during pod formation. Overall, 37.9% indehiscent capsules per plant were retained in the autumn cycle vs. 77.4% in the spring cycle, indicating a strong influence of the growing season, which was associated to a combined effect of higher moisture and lower temperatures during capsule development. Transversal sections of carpel walls from Vernola capsules showed that the physical reason of the partial dehiscence observed in this cultivar is a small portion of the mesocarp remaining near the valve sutures, which makes the fruits susceptible to a slower opening under some environmental conditions.
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