Effect of number of floral visits by honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in the pollination of guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Paluma

Abstract

The research was carried out in the farm FRUTACE, located in the County of São Gonçalo do Amarante, State of Ceará, Brazil. Data were collected and analyzed between September 1999 and March 2000 aiming to determine the minimum number of visits a honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) needs to pay a guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Paluma flower to maximize crop production. The experiment was made up of six treatments: open pollination, restricted pollination to emasculated flowers, and one, two, three and four A. mellifera visits to the same guava flower. Parameters used for evaluation were the number of fruits produced, fruit mass, pulp mass and number of seeds per fruit. Results showed that one single honeybee visit to a guava flower produced significantly (P < 0,05) more fruits than two, three or four visits per flower, although there had been no significant differences (P > 0,05) between treatments to fruit and pulp mass neither to the number of seeds per fruit. Two A. mellifera visits per flower produced the best pollination efficiency index (PEi).