Abstract

Hassen Hamadi, Zoghlami-Khelil Aziza, Ben Youssef Salah, Chtewi Khouloud and El-Bok Safia

An analysis of the of sexual reproduction ability of Vicia villosa Roth. have been investigated. The biological material consisted of a tunisian cultivar (Sejenane) and two accessions originating from ICARDA (International Center of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas): acc. 2565 and acc. 3615. Pod formation rate (P/F), number of seeds per pod (SPP), and the number of empty pods per plant (NEP) were higher under free pollination than in self-fertilization without release, suggesting that this species is characterized by a preferential allogamy. That Allogamy seems to be ensured by a sporophytic autoincompatibility. The gap between the number of seeds per pod (2.6 seeds on average) and the number of ovaries per gynaecium (4 ovaries on average) may reflect a fertilization malfunctioning in Vicia villosa Roth. The sporophytic auto-incompatibility, associated to both low pollinic germination rate (24 %) and flowers losses caused by gathering bumblebees (Bombus terrestris L.) constitute the main factors explaining the low fertility of this forage species.