IDENTIFICATION OF SEX OF NUTMEG SEEDLINGS BASED ON MORPHOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERS

Abstract

The main problem facing nutmeg cultivation is the segregation of the seedling progenies into males and females in the ratio of 1:1. Several methods have earlier been reported for the possible identification of the sex at the seedling stage. The present paper deals with the suitability of some of these methods at the nursery stage. The study of crystal patterns in the epidermal cells of the leaves revealed that the crystal differentiation was very clear in the mature leaves in almost 70 per cent of male and 78 per cent of female plants, Whereas in the case of seedlings, the crystal pattern was not definite and so the sex could not be differentiated in seedlings based on crystal study. The study of the seedling morphological traits like sprout colour, days for germination., leaf shape, size, venation, etc. led to the conclusion that none of these characters can be taken as a guide to sex the nutmeg plant. Out of a number of colour tests carried out on the leaf exudates or alcoholic leaf extracts of male and female trees, the ammonium molybdate alone gave satisfactory differentiation between male and female nutmeg trees. This testy gave a ‘faint green’ colour with the male and a ‘sea green’ colour with the female plant. This is reproducible in the case of all the trees tested, but not in the seedlings