Abstract
Key message
Low number of pistillate flowers in the tung tree is a major factor causing the low yield of tung fruits.
Abstract
The tung tree (Vernicia fordii Hemsl.), an economically important woody oil plant, produces excellent fast-drying oil from the seeds which has been used as a protective finish on projects and surfaces for centuries. Knowledge of sex determination and flower development of tung trees is helpful for high-yield cultivation and breeding of new elite cultivars. However, studies on tung flower biology and ontogeny are still lacking. Here, we reported a comprehensive study of the flower biology and ontogeny of the tung tree, focusing on flower cycle, flower morphology and flower development. The inflorescence phenophases of monoecious tung trees were divided into 12 pivotal stages and used as a unique timeline to reference the events registered throughout the flower cycle. Histological studies on sporogenesis and gametogenesis were also conducted. Meanwhile, all the unique events throughout flower cycle were linked together to show the correlation between inflorescence development phenophases, pistillate and staminate flower stages and its embryological development. Tung trees in our plantation were grouped into three major types, i.e., monoecious, gynoecious and androecious trees which produced different number of fruits in each inflorescence. We propose that low number of pistillate flowers in the tung tree is a major factor causing the low yield of tung fruits, and that any measures increasing the number of pistillate flowers would effectively improve the yield of tung fruits.
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Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31770720), the National Key R&D Program of China (Project No. 2017YFD0600703), the Postgraduate Scientific Research. Innovation Project of Hunan Province (Project Nos. CX20200696 and CX2018B444) and the Scientific Innovation Fund for Graduate of Central South University of Forestry and Technology (Project Nos. CX20201003 and 20183005).
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LZ and WL contributed to the conception and design of the study. Field and lab experiments, plant materials collection, and data analysis was performed by WL, ML, XD, YW, and LZ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LZ and WL. HC gave some useful comments and revised the manuscript. HS and HH managed the tung orchard and participated in phenological observation of tung flowers and plant material collection. All authors read and commented on the manuscript.
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Li, W., Liu, M., Dong, X. et al. Flower biology and ontogeny of the tung tree (Vernicia fordii Hemsl.). Trees 34, 1363–1381 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-020-02041-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-020-02041-3