Could Tetragonisca angustula Latreille (Apinae, Meliponini) be effective as strawberry pollinator in greenhouses?
Kátia Sampaio Malagodi-Braga A B and Astrid de Matos Peixoto Kleinert AA Laboratório de Abelhas, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo Rua do Matão, Travessa 14, n.321 CEP 05508-900 São Paulo—SP, Brazil.
B Corresponding author; email: ckbraga@terra.com.br
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 55(7) 771-773 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR03240
Submitted: 18 November 2003 Accepted: 18 May 2004 Published: 2 August 2004
Abstract
We evaluated the contribution of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula as a strawberry pollinator using primary flowers of the ‘Oso Grande’ cultivar. We applied 4 pollination treatments: open-pollination in the field, T. angustula pollination inside a greenhouse, and spontaneous self-pollination in the field and greenhouse. In each treatment we determined berry weight, number of achenes, number of fertilised ovules, fertilisation rates, and the percentage of marketable fruit. The results showed that one colony of this species in a greenhouse with approximately 1350 strawberry plants was adequate to pollinate ‘Oso Grande’ primary flowers. The contribution of T. angustula to the weight and shape of primary berries demonstrated that this bee species is an effective strawberry pollinator and it can promote a significant increase in overall strawberry production.
Additional keywords: stingless bees, Fragaria × ananassa, pollination, greenhouse, crop.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to strawberry land growers, José Benedito and Osvaldo José Maziero, for lending their commercial crops; Angelita A. C. Maziero for their kind collaboration with data collection; Francisco A. Passos and Vera L. Imperatriz-Fonseca for many helpful comments on this research; Pérsio de S. Santos for statistical advices; and FAPESP for the grant provided to the first author.
Camargo JMF
(1989) Comentários sobre a sistemática de Meliponinae (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Anais do XIV Simpósio Anual da ACIESP 68, 41–61.
Chagnon M,
Gingras J, de Oliveira D
(1989) Pollination rate of strawberries. Journal of Economic Entomology 82, 1350–1353.
Free, JB (1993).
Goodman RD, Oldroyd BP
(1988) Honeybee pollination of strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne). Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 28, 435–438.
Heard TA
(1999) The role of stingless bees in crop pollination. Annual Review of Entomology 44, 183–206.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Kakutani T,
Inoue T,
Tezuka T, Maeta Y
(1993) Pollination of strawberry by the stingless bee, Trigona minangkabau, and the honeybee, Apis mellifera: an experimental study of fertilisation efficiency. Researches on Population Ecology 35, 95–111.
Maeta Y,
Tezuka T,
Nadano H, Suzuki K
(1992) Utilisation of the Brazilian stingless bee, Nannotrigona testaceicornis, as a pollinator of strawberries. Honeybee Science 13, 71–78.
Malagodi-Braga KS
(2002) Estudo de agentes polinizadores em cultura de morango (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne—Rosaceae). PhD thesis, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Nitsch JP
(1950) Growth and morphogenesis of the strawberry as related to auxin. American Journal of Botany 37, 211–215.
Nye WP, Anderson JL
(1974) Insect pollinators frequenting strawberry blossoms and the effect of honey bees on yield and fruit quality. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 99, 40–44.
Svensson B
(1991) The importance of honey-bee-pollination for the quality and the quantity of strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) in Central Sweden. Acta Horticulturae 288, 260–264.
Thompson PA
(1971) Environmental effects on pollination and receptacle development in strawberry. Journal of Horticultural Science 46, 1–1’2.
Zar, JH (1999).
Zebrowska J
(1998) Influence of pollination modes on yield components in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.). Plant Breeding 17, 255–260.
