title: Stigmatic inhibition of pollen grain germination-its implication for frequency distribution of seed number in pods of Leucaena leucocephala (Lam) de Wit.
abstract: Seed number per pod is negatively skewed in Leucaena leucocephala. Post-fertilisation abortion of pods does not completely explain the skewed distribution. It is shown that a pre-fertilisation regulation effectively restricts the formation of pods with less than a certain number of seeds. The regulation is rendered through the inhibition of pollen grain germination by the stigmatic fluid when the pollen grain is less than a certain critical load in the stigma. Such a control is shown to have implications in the evolution of pollen package units, generation of male gametophytic competition and the economy of packing seeds in pods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Botany, University of Agricultural Sciences, 560 024, Bangalore, Hebbal, India.
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ganeshaiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uma Shaanker
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Botany, University of Agricultural Sciences, 560 024, Bangalore, Hebbal, India.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shivashankar
keywords: Leucaena; Pollen grain germination; Seed packing; Seeds per pod; Stigmatic inhibition