Blog 4 - Improving Plants
Blog 4 - Im proving Plants Is the pecan self-pollinating or cross-pollinating? The pecan tree has both female and male organs, but they are not located together, which is called monecious flowering. (Smith, n.d.) . The catkins (male flowers) and the pistil (female flower) receptiveness occur at different times. This is why the pecan tree requires cross-cultivation of a compatible cultivar. This is not entirely true, however. The exact times of the fertility of both organs is depended per pecan cultivar. While the Burkett cultivar is unable to self-pollinate, the Western cultivar does have the ability to do so. (Smith, n.d.) . Studies do show that cross-pollination has a positive effect on the size and ripening of the pecan nuts. (Byford, 2005) . Logically, if a crop has only one reproductive organ it is not able to self-pollinate. And if it does, looking at the time-span of the receptiveness of each organ helps identifying its ability to self-pollinate or not. Mostly, plants t...