Cone and seed maturity indices in Pinus wallichiana under temperate conditions of Kashmir Himalayas, India

Abstract

Pinus wallichiana (Blue pine) does not have a good seed every year and hence it becomes necessary to collect abundant quantity of seed during good seed year. It becomes necessary to know the exact time of seed ma-turity. To overcome this problem, the present investigation was conducted in Kashmir valley at four different altitudes and locations i.e. (1,600-2,000 masl–KFD), (2,000-2,400 masl -LFD), (2,400-2,800-PFD) and (2,800-3200 masl– SFD). The results revealed that seed collection clearly showed wide variation in the maturity of cones. Cone colour served as an indicator of maturity and it changed from light green to green and green with brown patches at maturity-ty. Seed colour changed from whitish to light brown and dark brown at maturity. The mean cone weight (118.67- 88.17gm) and specific gravity (1.13-0.90) decreased as the cones proceeded towards maturity. The mean seed weight of 21.79 to 57.13gm increased at all altitudes as the cones advanced towards maturity. Cone length, cone diameter and germination percent differed (P?0.05) significantly between altitudes and increased when the cones advanced towards maturity. The germination per cent was recorded more at altitudinal range of 1,600-2,400 masl (67.25-70.26%) at maturity, while as it was recorded lower at higher altitudes (42.12-47.25%). It is concluded that the altitudinal range of 1,600-2,400 masl is best sites for collection of phenotypically superior seeds in terms of maxi-mum cone length (18.18cm), diameter (5.23mm) and weight (108.94gm), number of seeds per cone (117.72), seed weight (79.99) and germinability (68.75).