Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding
Kokum (Garcinia indica) is one of the most important
indigenous and underexploited trees of tropical rain
forests of Konkan region of Maharashtra. The fruit rinds
of kokum are used as a garnish to give an acid flavor to
the curries and also for preparing syrup as a thirst
quenching summer drinks. Since sex is the queen
problems in evolutionary biology [1], understanding the
molecular factors behind sex expression has immense
importance both in basic and applied research. The
evolution of sex in plants, in particular has been
hypothesized variously as the plant display a great
variety of sexual phenotypes [2]. In general there are
three major sex strategies in angiosperms, viz.,
hermaphrodite, monoecious and dioecious. The
evolution of dioecy directly from a hermaphrodite
species is considered unlikely since the occurrence and
establishment of two independent mutations, one for
male and other for female sterility, most occur
simultaneously and the mutant genes (or multiple loci)
must be tightly linked so that the generation of
hermaphrodites does not occur by recombination [3].
Determination of sex in kokum is of utmost importance
from the commercial agricultural point of view, since
the sexuality cannot be distinguished prior to floral
initiation. In kokum, selection of the appropriate sex type
of the progeny for commercial planting would be
beneficial, since only the female and hermaphrodite
plants are grown for fruit [4]. The available morphological
markers are not sufficient to identify sex at seedling
stage.
Keywords: N/A
Year: 2011
Volume: 71
Issue: 1
Article DOI: N/A
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
S. V. Sawardekar, N. B. Gokhale, M. S. Mote, S. N. Joshi and S. S. Sawant info_circle
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