Fruit set and fruit growth of 'Irwin' mango as affected by honeybee pollination.
Sasaki K., Takebayashi T., Utsunomiya N.
Author Affiliation: Experimental Farm of Kinki University, 2355-2 Yuasa-cho, Wakayama 643-0004, Japan.
Japanese Journal of Tropical Agriculture 42 : 159-162
Abstract : In 4-year-old trees of Irwin mango grown in a plastic house, panicles were pollinated with honeybees or bagged with a cheesecloth during flowering to prevent pollination. The percentage of pollen grains adhering onto the stigma surface, embryo or seed formation, initial fruit set, fruit enlargement, and number of harvested fruits were investigated in the panicles of the two treatments to clarify the effect of honeybee pollination on productivity. In the honeybee pollination plot, pollen grains adhered onto the stigma surface in many flowers and some of them extended tubes into ovaries, while few flowers were pollinated in the plot free from honeybees. However, differences in the initial fruit set as well as number of harvested fruits between the treatments were not conspicuous. Pollination itself presumably is not directly related to the fruit set of Irwin mango. Honeybee pollination promoted embryo or seed formation. In the panicles free from honeybees, all the harvested fruits were seedless and smaller than the seeded fruits obtained by honeybee pollination. These results suggest that honeybees as a pollinator increase the yield through the production of a larger number of seeded fruits of a larger size.