Testing single visit pollination procedures for Eucalyptus globulus and E.nitens

Previously, the production of controlled crossed seed in eucalypts required three visits to the female tree during the flowering season. We combined two novel methods from the literature involving pollinating cut styles at anthesis, and isolating individual styles with a tube to reduce the operation to a single visit. In E. globulus, this method has successfully produced seed at a rate and quality which was not significantly different from the established three visit method. However, the cut style treatment method was not successful when applied to E. nitens, the difference in success possibly being due to the difference in floral morphology between the two species. This single visit method of controlled crossing has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of producing pedigreed seed in the economically important species E. globulus and has the potential for use in mass pollination systems.