Pollen Transport and Size of Main Flower Visitors of Rapeseed in the Southern Pampas Phytogeographic Region
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Although tomato cultivated genotypes are self-fertile, pollen release requires flower vibration. Certain hymenopterans vibrate their thoracic muscles to extract pollen (buzz pollination or sonication). In the horticultural belt of Bahía Blanca, Argentina, the effect of tomato floral visitors was studied. In each of two field plots, 12 traps were placed, and 24 inflorescences were assigned to two pollination treatments: free and restricted. Fruit set, number of mature fruits, fruit weight, longitudinal and equatorial diameters, seed number, and soluble solids content were determined. The collected insects belonged to five orders—Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera—with Hymenoptera comprising 80.46 % of all captures, only 5.51 % of which were Apis mellifera. No evidence was found that honey bees contribute to tomato pollination, consistent with their inability to sonicate. Among hymenopterans capable of pollinating tomato, Melissodes sp. and several species of Halictidae were the most abundant. Free pollination significantly increased fruit set and fruit number in one genotype, and had a positive effect on fruit weight and diameters in the other. No differences were found in soluble solids content. The presence of wild pollinators capable of buzz pollination proved beneficial for the production of cherry tomato.
Source: Eunk
Language: English
Topic: Plant and animal studies
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405978708