Pollination, pollinators and fruit setting in mango.
Singh G.
Author Affiliation: Department of Entomology, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar 263145, Uttar Pradesh, India.
: 116-123
Abstract : A survey of insects visiting mango flowers showed that most species were from the Diptera (17), followed by Coleoptera (3), Hymenoptera (3), Heteroptera (3) and Lepidoptera (3). There was no fruit set on completely bagged panicles. When bagged panicles (in flower) were opened for 24, 48 and 72 h, fruit set was 1.2, 1.2 and 1.6 fruits/panicle, respectively. Maximum (2.4) fruits/panicle were obtained when 10 syrphid flies (Melanostoma orientale) were released from cultivar Langra to Dashehari, followed by 0.4 fruits/panicle set with 5 blueflies. The maximum number of flower visitors during a minute occurred on late emerged panicles (60 visitors, 20 March), followed by early (26 February) very early (20 February) and very late (29 March) emerged panicles (49, 46 and 43 visitors, respectively). The number of perfect flowers was highest (11.8) on late panicles (20 March) and lowest (6.3) on early emerged panicles. Maximum fruit set (2.7/panicle) occurred on late panicles. This compared with 1.7 and 1.3 on early and very late panicles, respectively. The number of pollinators/panicle during one minute increased as the average temperature increased to 19.5°C, but decreased with further increases in temperature and with rain. Although the insecticide deltamethrin (0.0025%) reduced pollinator activity for 3 days, it increased fruit set by controlling insect pests.