Does a pineapple have seeds? What are its seeds?
Summary The ovary of the pineapple does not develop, so seeds are rarely seen. The pineapple fruit is a multiple fruit, formed from the fleshy bracts growing on the thick, fleshy central axis and the spirally arranged undeveloped ovaries. Pineapples mainly reproduce asexually through suckers and crown slips.
The pineapple is a tropical fruit. The edible part of its fruit is mostly the thickened, fleshy fruit axis, and its ovaries generally do not develop. Seeds are rarely seen inside the fruit. Pineapples all reproduce asexually through suckers and crown slips.
The pineapple fruit is a spherical body formed from the fleshy bracts growing on the thick, fleshy central axis together with the spirally arranged undeveloped ovaries. A pineapple is not a single fruit but is formed from many bisexual flowers together, making it a multiple fruit.
1. Propagation methods of pineapple
Apart from seed propagation used in crossbreeding, pineapple seedlings are generally propagated asexually using crown slips, ratoon suckers, suckers and stem sections. Methods such as sucker propagation with morphactin, seedling raising from sliced old stems, and tissue culture seedling raising can also be used.
Pineapple seedlings are reproduced asexually, but various undesirable variations such as multiple crowns, cockscomb fruit, fan-shaped fruit, multiple ratoon fruit and deformed fruit may also appear, and they may even fail to bear fruit. Therefore, when collecting slips for propagation, high-quality mother plants should be selected.
At present, pineapple cultivation in the Hainan region of China mostly uses three types of slips - ratoon suckers, suckers and crown slips - for clonal propagation of pineapple.
2. Vegetative propagation and seedling raising methods
1. Small seedling cultivation
Gather the small crown slips, small suckers and small ratoon slips from the orchard, plant them by category in a nursery, set aside a piece of seedling-raising land in the nursery, prepare the land and make beds, apply base fertilizer, and wait for the slips to grow. Grade the collected small slips according to size and heel them in at a spacing of 5-10 sq cm between plants and rows. When planting, take care not to plant too deep, so as not to affect root and leaf extension. Once the seedlings reach 25cm, they can be lifted from the nursery for field planting.
The nursery is best located close to the field where they will be planted, on loose, fertile sloping land with good drainage. First plow and harrow the nursery land, then make beds. The bed length should be kept at about 15-20m, the height at about 20cm, and the furrow width at about 30-50cm.
2. Raising seedlings from ratoon slips on the elongated stalk and delaying the renewal period
After the fruit is harvested, the small ratoon slips remaining on the fruit stalk can continue to grow. When they reach 25cm in height, they can be picked off for use as seedlings. The plowing time for the sections of the orchard awaiting renewal should be postponed, and normal fertilization and earthing-up management should be carried out for a period, for example spraying water and fertilizer or applying quick-acting fertilizer afterward, so that the small slips grow rapidly and become sturdy. After field planting, the land can then be plowed for renewal. This can increase the number of seedlings to a certain extent.
3. Raising seedlings by digging out the growth point of the plant
If a shortage of seedlings occurs when promoting an excellent variety, the growth point of plants that have not borne fruit can be dug out to multiply seedlings. When the plant has grown 20 green leaves, use a screwdriver to dig out the growth point of the plant, with the depth controlled so as to destroy the growth point, in order to promote the sprouting and growth of suckers. Once they reach the planting standard, the slips can be divided and field planted. The larger the plant, the stronger the suckers it produces. This method is best carried out from May to August, and generally 2-5 suckers can grow.