Programmed cell death in kiwifruit stigmatic arms and its relationship to the effective pollination period and the progamic phase.

Background And Aims: Kiwifruit is a crop with a highly successful reproductive performance, which is impaired by the short effective pollination period of female flowers. This study investigates whether the degenerative processes observed in both pollinated and non-pollinated flowers after anthesis may be considered to be programmed cell death (PCD).

Methods: Features of PCD in kiwifruit, Actinidia chinensis var.