Does polyembryony reduce seed germination and seedling development in Eriotheca pubescens (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae)?

Competition between siblings affect their growth and survival ability. An extreme situation is polyembryony, whereby siblings are exposed to competition from the beginning of their development. But its effect on plant reproduction is seldom tested. Eriotheca pubescens is a tree in the Cerrado, the Neotropical Savannas in Brazil, with apomictic/polyembryonic and sexual/monoembryonic populations. We tested the effect of polyembryony on germination, emergence, and growth in E. pubescens. This may have ecological consequences within the Cerrado, where seedling establishment is critical for species persistency and distribution.

We tested the effect of embryonic origin on germinability- and time-related parameters using seeds from different populations. We measured cultivated seedling growth continuously for 70 d and exhumed them after 9 mo to measure seedling biometry traits such as shoot, root, and seedling mass. We compared these traits with the number of seedlings emerged per seed and fitted data to a linear regression model.

Polyembryony reduced germinability and seedlings' initial growth in E. pubescens. Seedling traits and biomass decreased with the number of seedlings arising per seed. But the effect of polyembryony was mostly on initial seedling size and not on seedling growth rate.

Polyembryony and apomixis affected germination and led to smaller seedlings compared with monoembryonic sexual counterparts. Although smaller, these extra seedlings may enhance per-seed survival chances in the Cerrado conditions of seasonal drought and frequent fires and explain the predominance of polyembryonic populations.