Abstract

MONTES-MAYA, F. et al. Production of fruits and seeds in crosses of varieties of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch). Revista bio ciencias [online]. 2019, vol.6, e601.  Epub Oct 02, 2020. ISSN 2007-3380.  https://doi.org/10.15741/revbio.06.e601.

Seeds are the basis of the genetic diversity of the species and a fundamental element in the conventional genetic breeding. The production of seeds in poinsettia is depending on the varieties used as progenitors. Based on this, the aim of this study was to evaluate the production of fruits and seeds in crosses of two varieties of poinsettias of sun with four varieties of shade plants. The female parents were Amanecer navideño and Juan Pablo, and the male parents were Festival red, Ice punch, Premium marble and Cortez burgundy. There were 10 repetitions per crossing and in each one 15 hermaphrodite flowers were selected, these were emasculated before the anthesis and the pollination was performed when the stigma was receptive. Fruit set, characteristics of the fruits as well as the characteristics of the seeds were evaluated. The best crosses were Juan Pablo x Premium marble and Amanecer navideño x Festival red since they had a higher fruit set (83.6 and 69.98 %) and more than two seeds per fruit. The best male progenitors were Festival red and Premium marble (induced 63.99 and 64.63 % fruit set); on the contrary, Ice punch and Cortez burgundy induced few fruits and Ice punch even did not produce fruit when crossing it with Juan Pablo.

Keywords : Crossings in poinsettia; size of seeds; characteristics of poinsettia fruits; fruit set.