Hostname: page-component-669899f699-cf6xr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-03T02:30:00.461Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The pollination ecology of durian (Durio zibethinus, Bombacaceae) in southern Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Sara Bumrungsri ,
Ekapong Sripaoraya ,
Thanongsak Chongsiri ,
Kitichate Sridith  and
Paul A. Racey
Sara Bumrungsri*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, Hat-Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Ekapong Sripaoraya
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, Hat-Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Thanongsak Chongsiri
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, Hat-Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Kitichate Sridith
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, Hat-Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
Paul A. Racey
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The floral biology and pollination ecology of durian, Durio zibethinus, were determined in eight semi-wild trees in mixed-fruit orchards in southern Thailand during April-May 2003 and 2005. Flowers open fully at 16h00–16h30 and most androecia drop around 01h00. Anthers dehisce at 19h30–20h00 when the stigmata are already receptive. In a series of pollination experiments, fruit was set in all treatments within 10 d. The greatest pollination success occurred after hand-crossed (76.6%), open (54.4%) and emasculation pollination (53.3%). Consistently, hand-crossed (12.2%), emasculation (8.7%) and open pollination (5.1%) yielded a substantial fruit set 2 mo after the pollination experiments. Very low pollination success in facilitated autogamy suggests that most durian trees are highly self incompatible. No mature fruit was found after insect pollination and automatic autogamy. Fruit bats, especially Eonycteris spelaea, are the major pollinators of this durian although the giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) was the most frequent visitor to the flowers. Bats visited durian flowers at the rate of 26.1 (SD = 20.7) visits per inflorescence per night. Since this semi-wild durian depends on fruit bats as its pollinator, protecting fruit bat populations and their roosts is vital for the production of the durian fruit crop.

Keywords

DurianEonycteris spelaeagiant honey beeinsect pollinationmixed-fruit orchardself-incompatibilityThailand
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 85 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

LITERATURE CITED

BOONKIRD, S. 1992. Biological studies of stingless bee, Trigona laeviceps Smith and its role in pollination of durian, Durio zibethinus L. cultivar Chanee. PhD dissertation. Kasetsart University. 89 pp.Google Scholar
BROWN, M. J. 1997. Durio – a bibliographic review. IPGRI Office for South Asia, New Delhi. 188 pp.Google Scholar
BUMRUNGSRI, S., HARBIT, A., BENZIE, C., CARMOUCHE, K., SRIDITH, K. & RACEY, P. 2008. The pollination ecology of two species of Parkia (Mimosaceae) in southern Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology 24:467–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CORBET, G. B. & HILL, J. E. 1992. The mammals of the Indomalayan Region: a systematic review. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 496 pp.Google Scholar
GOULD, E. 1977. Foraging behaviour of Pteropus vampyrus on the flowers of Durio zibethinus. Malayan Nature Journal 30:53–57.Google Scholar
GOULD, E. 1978. Foraging behavior of Malaysian nectar-feeding bats. Biotropica 10:184–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HIRANPRADIT, H., JANTRAJOO, S., LEE-UNGULASATIAN, N. & POLPRASID, P. 1992. Group characterization of Thai durian, Durio zibethinus Murr. Acta Horticulturae 321:263–269.Google Scholar
HONSHO, C., YONEMORI, K., SOMSRI, S., SUBHADRABANDHU, S. & SUGIURA, A. 2004a. Marked improvement of fruit set in Thai durian by artificial cross pollination. Scientia Horticulturae 101:399–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HONSHO, C., YONEMORI, K., SUGIURA, A., SOMSRI, S. & SUBHADRABANDHU, S. 2004b. Durian floral differentiation and flowering habit. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 129:42–45.Google Scholar
HONSHO, C., SOMSRI, S., TETSUMURA, T., YAMASHITA, K., YAPWATTANPHUN, C. & YONEMORI, K. 2007a. Characterization of male reproductive organs in durian; anther dehiscence and pollen longevity. Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science 76:120–124.Google Scholar
HONSHO, C., SOMSRI, S., TETSUMURA, T., YAMASHITA, K. & YONEMORI, K. 2007b. Effective pollination period in durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.) and the factors regulating it. Scientia Horticulturae 111:193–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEVAN, P. G. & PHILLIPS, T. P. 2001. The economic impacts of pollinator declines: an approach to assessing the consequences. Conservation Ecology 5:1–19.Google Scholar
LIM, T. K & LUDERS, L. 1998. Durian flowering, pollination and incompatibility studies. Annals of Applied Biology 132:151–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LO, K. H., CHEN, I. Z. & CHANG, T. L. 2007. Pollen-tube growth behaviour in ‘Chanee’ and ‘Monthong’ durians (Durio zibethinus L.) after selfing and reciprocal crossing. Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology 82:824–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MORTON, J. 1987. Durian. Pp. 287–291 in Fruits of warm climates. Florida Flair Books, Miami.Google Scholar
PAYNE, J., FRANCIS, C. M. & PHILLIPPS, K. 1985. A field guide to the mammals of Borneo. Sabah Society and World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu. 332 pp.Google Scholar
ROUND, P. D., GALE, G. A. & BROCKELMAN, W. Y. 2006. A comparison of bird communities in mixed fruit orchards and natural forest at Khao Luang, southern Thailand. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:2873–2891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SALAKPETCH, S., CHANDRAPARNIK, S. & HIRUNPRADIT, H. 1992. Pollen grains and pollination in durian. Acta Horticulturae 321:636–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SOEPADMO, E. & EOW, B. K. 1976. The reproductive biology of Durio zibethinus Murr. Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore 29:25–33.Google Scholar
SRITHONGCHUAY, T., BUMRUNGSRI, S. & SRIPAO-RAYA, E. 2008. Pollination ecology of the late-successional tree, Oroxylum indicum (Bignoniaceae) in Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology 24:477–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
START, A. N. 1974. The feeding biology in relation to food sources of nectarivorous bats (Chiroptera: Macroglossinae) in Malaysia. PhD thesis. University of Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
START, A. N. & MARSHALL, A. G. 1976. Nectarivorous bats as pollinators of trees in west Malaysia. Pp. 141–149 in Burley, J. & Styles, B. T. (eds.). Tropical trees: variation, breeding and conservation. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
SUBHADRABANDHU, S. & KETSA, S. 2001. Durian – king of tropical fruit. CABI Publishing, Wallingford. 204 pp.Google Scholar
VALMAYOR, R. V., CORONEL, R. E. & RAMIREZ, D. A. 1965. Studies on the floral biology, fruit set and fruit development in durian. The Philippines Agriculturalist 48:355–366.Google Scholar
YUMOTO, T. 2000. Bird-pollination of three Durio species (Bombacaceae) in a tropical rainforest in Sarawak, Malaysia. American Journal of Botany 87:1181–1188.Google Scholar