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however, up to now, no more comprehensive study on influences of pollination treatments and pollination requirement for Hylocereus spp. species as cultivars in naturally domesticated growing condition has not been conducted. In Taiwan red pitayas (Hylocereus spp.) with white, red or purple pulp are widely cultivated plants. Because of their importance as exotic fruit crops, different species of the genera Hylocereus collected for study are being grown at the tropical fruit orchard, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST). The present work investigated morphological characteristics, effects of pollination methods on fruit set and fruit characteristics in some promising pitaya clones in order to determine their pollination requirement and propose agro-managements that can improve the efficiency of pollination, fruit quality, and yield. II.MATERIAL AND METHODS A.Plant Materials and Experimental Treatments The pitaya plants used were about

10 years old grown at the tropical fruit orchard, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), Taiwan. The experiment was carried out from April to September in 2013. Four pitaya clones: Vietnam (VN) White (H. undatus), Orejona (H. monacanthus), Chaozhou

5 and F11 (Hylocereus spp.) intercropped with together were examined. For investigating effects of pollination methods, four pollination treatments were applied. (1) Hand self-pollination: Tagged mature flower buds were covered by bags before 2PM. Pollen from the same flower was applied to the stigma after flowers opened in the evening Dinh Ha, Tran, Chung - Ruey Yen Morphological Characteristics and Pollination Requirement in Red Pitaya (Hylocereus spp.) P World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering Vol:8, No:3,

2014 202 International Scholarly and Scientific Research &

Innovation 8(3)

2014 scholar.waset.org/1999.1/9997630 International Science Index, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Vol:8, No:3,

2014 waset.org/Publication/9997630 (9.00-12.00PM). To prevent open pollination, flowers were kept bagged except during hand pollination. (2) Hand cross-pollination: Anthers of mature flower buds were removed and bagged before 2PM pollen shed to prevent unwanted pollination. Emasculated flowers in each clone were hand-pollinated with flesh pollen gathered from a different concurrently flowering clone in the same evening (9.00-12.00 PM) and then re-bagged. (3) Automatic self C pollination: Flowers were covered with bagged throughout anthesis to prevent cross pollination. (4) Open pollination: Natural pollination without interfering action from experimenters. The pollination experiment design was in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with

3 replications and 20-

25 flowers were randomly selected for one treatment. B.Parameter Measurements In order to characterize morphology,

5 developed stems (at the end of the year'

s growth),

5 flowers at mature bud and fully opening stages and

5 ripening fruits per each clone were randomly chosen and described characteristics. The average number in each parameter was of

4 -

5 measures. The method of measurements following to [6], [9] were recorded in Table I. TABLE I THE STEM, FLOWER AND FRUIT DESCRIPTORS OF THE RED PITAYA (HYLOCEREUS SPP.) CLONES Descriptors Method Units Stem length Measure from basal insertion to apex of stem Centimeters (cm) Stem width Measure on a flattest face of stem Centimeters (cm) Areole distance Distance between a spine group and another group. Millimeters (mm) Spine number/areole Average number of spines in