PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

The species of Zingiberales are sources of globally important spices and ornamental plants, and have long been used in Asian traditional medicine, cuisine and as herbs. Some species have high ornamental value due to their attractive foliage or flowers, including Zingiber spectabile Griff. Hybridization has been the major source of genetic variation in flower and ornamental breeding and understanding the flowering season and peaks of flowering is important for flower growers. Stigma receptivity, or the effective pollination period, is one of the important factors determining successful fertilization and has been rarely studied in Zingiberaceae. The objectives of this study were to examine the Z. spectabile reproductive biology, to investigate stigma receptivity under several flowering developmental stages, and their reproductive success. The inflorescence development of Z. spectabile from the start of the bracts opening to fully open bracts took 13-17 weeks. The ideal time for artificial pollination was between 11:00-13:00 hours, and the anthers dehisced prior to stigma receptivity. Our study demonstrates that Z. spectabile is self-compatible and cross-pollination does not increase fruit set and seed set.