Journal ID : AMA-24-11-2021-10889
[ This article belongs to Special Issue 2021 ]
Total View : 403

Title : Pineapple Flowering of cv. Pada and cv. Sarawak: Naturally, and Artificially Using Flowering Hormones

Abstract :

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) flowering could be induced either naturally or artificially using flowering hormones. Although the latter was widely practiced among pineapple farmers, obtaining optimum flowering of 90% is still challenging to achieve. This issue affected the production cost and would influence the preference of cultivars to be planted. This study aims to determine the period of naturally induced flowering (NIF) and evaluate the efficacy of artificially induced flowering (AIF) and optimize the AIF using flowering hormones at various concentrations on cv. Pada and cv. Sarawak. Both cultivars were grown in polybag under Sarawak, Malaysia’s growing condition. The average NIF of cv. Pada (planted in January 2020), and cv. Sarawak (planted in February 2020), recorded until 470 days after planting (DAP), occurred at 450 and 412 DAP, respectively. The estimated initiation period of NIF on both cv. Pada, and cv. Sarawak occurred during February 2021, which corresponded to the presence of environmental stimuli (low night temperature and water stress). In AIF, optimum flowering in cv. Pada was obtained under ethephon and calcium carbide treatments, but only ethephon treatments work best for cv. Sarawak, despite failing to achieve the optimum flowering regardless of concentrations used. Following that experiment, optimization of ethephon for cv. Pada found that as low as 50 ppm could induce 90% flowering, while lower than that (25 ppm) needs twice application to promote full flowering. Meanwhile, increasing the hormone concentrations in cv. Sarawak still failed to achieve optimum flowering; however, twice application of low calcium carbide concentration (0.5%) could trigger up to 91% flowering. This study suggests that the longer or frequent hormone exposure to the plant was more effective for AIF rather than using unnecessary excessive concentration.

Full article