Abstract
During the last decade there has been an increased demand for cyclamen as a potted ornamental plant in Mexico. It is needed to produce high quality seed at low cost. The objective in this work was to investigate if there is any influence of the age of the mother plants on phenology, seed production and quality. The cv. Lugano Supreme special mix was used and plants were grown in a plastic greenhouse were air temperature varied between 5.4 and 34.0 ºC, with an average of 17.8 ºC. The treatments were three plant ages: one (T1), two (T2) and three (T3) years respectly. The phenological stages considered were: PS1: when floral button had from 1.0 to 2.0 cm of diameter, PS2, floral button with 2.0 to 3.0 cm of length, and PS3, initial flower opening. T2 had the fastest development: time from PE1 to PE2 was of 30 days, statistically shorter than in the other treatments; from PE1 to PE3 was 38, statistically similar to T1 with 42 days, and from PE1 to harvest was of 120, statistically similar to T3 with 123 days. Regarding capsule setting, T1 was significantly superior (83 %) to T3 (66%) but similar to T2 (75 %). T3 and T2 had a seed yield (2.16 and 1.92 g plant-1, respectively) superior to that of T1 (1.02 g plant-1). Ratings for seed quality characteristics for all treatments were: % germination, lower than 60 %; viability, lower than 65 %, and weight of 1000 seeds lower than 6 g. All of them below standards required for certification process.
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