References on Mango

Mizuno S., Yoshida T., Kiyokawa K., Sasaki M.

Author Affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Tamagawa University, 1-1, Tamagawagakuen 6-chome, Machida City, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan.
Japanese Journal of Tropical Agriculture 51 : 116-122

Abstract : The pollination efficiency of two species of honey bees and bumble bees (Bombus ignitus) was compared for 'Irwin' mango fruits grown in plastic greenhouses. The ratio of perfect bisexual flowers of 'Irwin' mangoes exceeded 50% in the distal part of the panicles, but tended to decrease toward the proximal part. The number of staminate flowers tended to increase in the proximal part. On fine days, visiting frequency of Japanese honey bees (Apis cerana japonica) to flowers in a panicle was twice as high as that of European honey bees (A. mellifera), while no differences were noted on rainy days. The number of bumble bees that visited the flowers on rainy days was only approximately 15% of the number on fine days. On the other hand, the duration of foraging of European honey bees was the longest on a panicle, followed by that of Japanese honey bees and bumble bees. Japanese honey bees commonly moved from flower-to-flower, while European honey bees tended to stay on the same flower panicle. Although the foraging duration of European honey bees was shorter on rainy days, the effect of the weather conditions on the foraging duration in Japanese honey bees and bumble bees was not significant. There were no differences in the number of bees leaving the hives on fine and rainy days. The seeded fruit ratio was high with all three pollinators: 71.7% for Japanese honey bees, 69.0% for European honey bees and 59.3% for bumble bees. Although a larger number of fruits weighed more than 200 g with European and Japanese honey bee pollinators, bumble bee pollinators produced many small fruits weighing less than 100 g. Both the European and Japanese honey bees are effective pollinators for the production of large mango fruits.