TY - JOUR
T1 - Pollination of greenhouse tomatoes by the Australian bluebanded bee Amegilla (Zonamegilla) holmesi (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
AU - Bell, Melissa
AU - Spooner-Hart, Robert
AU - Haigh, Anthony M.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The pollination effectiveness of bluebanded bees of the species Amegilla (Zonamegilla) holmesi Rayment (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was evaluated in tomato plants, Lycopersicon esculentum Miller (Solanaceae), cultivated in two greenhouse chambers. Bluebanded bee pollination was compared with mechanical pollination and no supplementary pollination. Pollination effectiveness was compared between treatments by using the percentage of fruit set, fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit roundness, and the number of seeds per fruit. Both the bluebanded bee pollination and the mechanical pollination treatments significantly increased fruit set, individual fruit weight, and diameter compared with the control treatment. Fruit were also significantly rounder and contained significantly more seeds. Positive correlations were found for fruit weight versus seed number, maximum diameter versus seed number and minimum diameter versus seed number. We conclude that the use of A. holmesi for pollinating greenhouse tomatoes in Australia may be an effective alternative to the use of mechanical pollination.
AB - The pollination effectiveness of bluebanded bees of the species Amegilla (Zonamegilla) holmesi Rayment (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was evaluated in tomato plants, Lycopersicon esculentum Miller (Solanaceae), cultivated in two greenhouse chambers. Bluebanded bee pollination was compared with mechanical pollination and no supplementary pollination. Pollination effectiveness was compared between treatments by using the percentage of fruit set, fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit roundness, and the number of seeds per fruit. Both the bluebanded bee pollination and the mechanical pollination treatments significantly increased fruit set, individual fruit weight, and diameter compared with the control treatment. Fruit were also significantly rounder and contained significantly more seeds. Positive correlations were found for fruit weight versus seed number, maximum diameter versus seed number and minimum diameter versus seed number. We conclude that the use of A. holmesi for pollinating greenhouse tomatoes in Australia may be an effective alternative to the use of mechanical pollination.
KW - Amegilla
KW - Lycopersicon
KW - bluebanded bee
KW - pollination
KW - tomato
UR - http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/10490
UR - http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jee/2006/00000099/00000002/art00024
U2 - 10.1093/jee/99.2.437
DO - 10.1093/jee/99.2.437
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-0493
JO - Journal of Economic Entomology
JF - Journal of Economic Entomology
ER -