Applied aspects of pineapple flowering

Abstract

Flowering is an amazing, integrated and complex process of multifatorial control, which due to its great importance for agriculture has been extensively studied worldwide. Pineapple is one of the main crops on which many research works about this subject have been carried out, and it was the first one to have artificially induced flowering. However, even with all those studies, pineapple flowering is not yet characterized in many aspects. The main point for the comprehension of the physiologic aspects of flowering initiation is the identification of the factors involved in the differentiation of the apical meristem into floral primordium, as well as how these factors exert their action. This work aimed to describe the flowering process of pineapple plants, including notions about general flowering physiology, pineapple inflorescence, natural and artificial flowering. Flowering relation to several chemical substances which are involved with the vegetative growth of the plant are also discussed, in order to bring out more light on its underlying mechanisms, and also to help in crop management.