Pollination effectiveness of European honeybee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), in an Oriental persimmon, Diospyros kaki (Ericales: Ebenaceae), orchard
Most common cultivars of Oriental (or Japanese) persimmon, Diospyros kaki Thunb. (Ericales: Ebenaceae), set mostly female flowers and require pollen from male flowers of other cultivars for pollination. Growers often introduce the European honeybee, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), into thei...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Applied entomology and zoology 2020-11, Vol.55 (4), p.405-412 |
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Zusammenfassung: | Most common cultivars of Oriental (or Japanese) persimmon,
Diospyros kaki
Thunb. (Ericales: Ebenaceae), set mostly female flowers and require pollen from male flowers of other cultivars for pollination. Growers often introduce the European honeybee,
Apis mellifera
L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), into their orchards to promote pollination. Here, we investigated the pollination effectiveness of
A. mellifera
for
D. kaki
‘Saijo,’ by monitoring flower visitors, analyzing pollen grains on bees’ body surfaces, and comparing the number of mature seeds in fruits among years with different pollinator availabilities.
Apis mellifera
and the bumblebee
Bombus ardens ardens
Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae) were the major visitors for 3 years, although their dominance varied among years. The number of mature seeds was positively correlated with the number of
B. ardens ardens
visiting
D. kaki
flowers, but not with that of
A. mellifera. Apis mellifera
might be less efficient because visitors to female flowers carried significantly fewer pollen grains on their body surfaces than those of
B. ardens ardens
. Analysis of pollen loads of honeybees captured at their nest entrance suggested their preference for red clover,
Trifolium pratense
L. (Fabales: Fabaceae), and
Toxicodendron
spp. (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae), over
D. kaki
as a pollen source in our study site. The effectiveness of
A. mellifera
on
D. kaki
pollination should be carefully evaluated considering the effects of coexisting floral and pollinator species. |
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ISSN: | 0003-6862 1347-605X |
DOI: | 10.1007/s13355-020-00696-5 |