Forced flowering of pineapple (Ananas comosus cv. Tainon 16) in response to ethephon with or without calcium carbonate

Abstract

As a gaseous plant hormone, ethylene is responsible for inducing the initiation of reproductive development in pineapple. Reproductive development can be forced in pineapple (Ananas comosus) throughout the year with ethylene. Ethephon is the most common agent applied in pineapple forcing with high uniformity and convenience. We studied the effect of additive added to the ethephon solution on the plant and fruit of pineapple. Shoot apices of pineapple treated twice to evaluate the effect. Results showed that t 800mg/L ethephon could induce flowering successfully, addition of calcium carbonate could reduce the dose of ethephon significantly from 800 to 50. Furthermore, the addition of calcium carbonate not only caused the prolongation of the peduncle and increasing of slip number, but also increased fruilet numbers and fruit weight with a highly significant difference. 100mg/L ethephon with 0.04% calcium carbonate was the optimum forcing treatment for Tainon 16 cultivar.