Comparative study of seed production in hermaphrodite and female Silene vulgaris plants, a gynodioecious species

Among the great number of autochthonous species from SE Spain that can be used as food, Silene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke, a perennial herb from Caryophyllaceae family and native to Eurasia is an outstanding example. However, the agronomic aspects of this species have not been studied yet, for which reason the seed production ability and seed obtention possibilities for planting, was studied in this work as a first phase towards plant selection. Five hundred seedlings of Silene vulgaris were transplanted on the 22 February, 2001 in the Universidad Politécnica Cartagena Research Station (Murcia, SE Spain). From the whole plants used in the experiment, 35 were hermaphrodite and the rest female. In the anthesis period (10-21 May), 125 hermaphrodite and 125 female flowers were randomly labelled. After the flower maturation (7-14 June), each capsule was harvested individually. The number of seeds and weight per capsule were registered. Additionally, in order to know the mean seed production per plant, the number of flowers was noted in both type of plant. There were no significant differences in the number of flowers per plant (c.a. 200) or in the number of ovules per flower (c.a. 135) and the results showed a higher seed production from hermaphrodite than female flowers (48.2 ± 22.6 and 33.1 ± 15.4 seeds/capsule, respectively). According to the preliminary results, the selection of hermaphrodite plants for commercial seed production could be of interest due to the increased production (200 kg per ha more when hermaphrodite plants are used).