Pollination of tomatoes by the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata and the honey bee Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Pollination of tomatoes by the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata and the honey bee Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

The pollination effectiveness of the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata and the honey bee Apis mellifera was tested in tomato plots. The experiment was conducted in four greenhouses as well as in an external open plot in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. The tomato plants were exposed to visits by M. q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics and molecular research Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 751 - 757
Main Authors: Santos, S.A. Bispo dos, Hrncir, M
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Brazil 01-01-2009
Subjects:
Animals
Apidae
Apis mellifera
Bees - physiology
Behavior, Animal
Chrysomelidae
Crops, Agricultural - anatomy & histology
Halictidae
honey bees
Hymenoptera
insect pollination
Lycopersicon esculentum
Lycopersicon esculentum - anatomy & histology
Lycopersicon esculentum - physiology
Melipona
Melipona quadrifasciata
pollinating insects
Pollination
Seeds
Solanum lycopersicum
stingless bees
tomatoes
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Summary:The pollination effectiveness of the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata and the honey bee Apis mellifera was tested in tomato plots. The experiment was conducted in four greenhouses as well as in an external open plot in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. The tomato plants were exposed to visits by M. quadrifasciata in one greenhouse and to A. mellifera in another; two greenhouses were maintained without bees (controls) and an open field plot was exposed to pollinators in an area where both honey bee and stingless bee colonies are abundant. We counted the number of tomatoes produced in each plot. Two hundred tomatoes from each plot were weighed, their vertical and transversal circumferences were measured, and the seeds were counted. We collected 253 Chrysomelidae, 17 Halictidae, one Paratrigona sp, and one honey bee from the flowers of the tomato plants in the open area. The largest number of fruits (1414 tomatoes), the heaviest and largest tomatoes, and the ones with the most seed were collected from the greenhouse with stingless bees. Fruits cultivated in the greenhouse with honey bees had the same weight and size as those produced in one of the control greenhouses. The stingless bee, M. quadrifasciata, was significantly more efficient than honey bees in pollinating greenhouse tomatoes.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.4238/vol8-2kerr015
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1676-5680
1676-5680
DOI:10.4238/vol8-2kerr015