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AOBPreview originally published online on December 19, 2002
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Annals of Botany 91: 335-341, 2003
© 2003 Annals of Botany Company

Fungicide Sprays Can Injure the Stigmatic Surface During Receptivity in Almond Flowers

WEIGUANG YI1, S. EDWARD LAW2 and HAZEL Y. WETZSTEIN*,1

1 Department of Horticulture, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA and 2 Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

* For correspondence. Fax +1 706 542 0624, e-mail hywetz{at}uga.edu

Received: 28 May 2002; Returned for revision: 22 July 2002; Accepted: 28 October 2002    Published electronically: 19 December 2002

Fungicides can be detrimental to flower development, pollen function and fruit set in a number of crops. Almond is a self-incompatible nut crop that has a fruit set of only approx. 30 % of the total number of flowers. Thus, interference of pollination and fertilization by fungicide sprays is of concern, and identification of chemicals having the least detrimental effects would be desirable. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of fungicide sprays on stigma morphology in almond using a laboratory spray apparatus that simulated field applications. Four fungicides (azoxystrobin, myclobutanil, iprodione and cyprodinil) were applied, and fresh, unfixed stigmatic surfaces were observed using a scanning electron microscope at 4 and 24 h after spraying. Increased exudate accumulation was induced by azoxystrobin at both time periods, and localized damage and collapse of stigmatic cells were observed after 24 h. Damaged stigmatic papillae exhibited wrinkling, surface distortion or collapse. Likewise, myclobutanil caused significant damage to and collapse of papillae; these were more extensive at later observations. Iprodione had no effect on exudate accumulation but caused marked and severe collapse of stigmatic papillae which was pronounced at 24 h. Cyprodinil promoted a copious increase in exudate secretion and caused the most severe collapse of stigmatic cells of all the fungicides evaluated. Damage was somewhat localized at 4 h but more global at 24 h. This study has verified that certain fungicide sprays have direct detrimental effects on stigma morphology and enhance exudate production in almond flowers.

Key words: Almond, collapse, exudate, fungicide, pesticide, Prunus dulcis, scanning electron microscopy, stigmatic papillae.


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W. YI, S. E. LAW, D. MCCOY, and H. Y. WETZSTEIN
Stigma Development and Receptivity in Almond (Prunus dulcis)
Ann. Bot., January 1, 2006; 97(1): 57 - 63.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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