EVALUATION OF FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MELON HYBRIDS (Cucumis melo L.) IN POLLINATOR ATTRACTIVENESS

Abstract

-Floral morphology and biology are important characteristics for plant-pollinator interactions and may influence the behavior of these agents. This study aimed to determine which floral attributes of different melon hybrids influence this interaction and, consequently, their attractiveness in simultaneous crops. The study was conducted in the region of Petrolina, State of Pernambuco (PE)/Juazeiro, State of Bahia (BA) and Mossoró, State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), in areas with the following melon hybrids: Yellow type, Piel de Sapo, Cantaloupe and Galia. For studies on floral morphology and biology, hermaphrodites and male flowers of each hybrid were analyzed for their size and nectar chamber size, pollen and nectar production, anthesis time and flower lifespan. Floral visitors were observed simultaneously in hybrids of three types of melon, from 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the two study sites. Evaluations of the corolla diameter and flower height indicated that the hermaphrodite flowers were larger in size than male flowers in all types of melon investigated, in both study sites. As for nectar chamber, male flowers are larger in width, but smaller in height, compared to hermaphrodite flowers. Regarding the volume of nectar, differences were found between floral types for the hybrids evaluated, in the two study sites; the hermaphrodite flowers produced 2-7 times more nectar than male flowers in all studied hybrids. Observations of visits of Apis mellifera to areas with simultaneous flowering of the three types of melon demonstrated differences in the frequency of visits between hybrids, floral type and foraged resource. Flowers of the hybrids Piel de Sapo and Cantaloupe exhibited larger corolla diameter, larger dimensions of the nectar chamber and greater supply of resources for foraging, which could explain the higher number of visits of bees to their flowers in the sites studied. Index terms: anthesis, Cucurbitaceae, nectar, pollen, floral resources. AVALIAÇÃO DE CARACTERÍSTICAS FLORAIS DE HÍBRIDOS DE MELOEIRO (Cucumis melo L.) NA ATRATIVIDADE DE POLINIZADORESRESUMO -A morfologia e a biologia floral são consideradas como características importantes nas interações planta-polinizador e podem influenciar o comportamento desses agentes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar quais os atributos florais de híbridos de diferentes tipos de meloeiro poderiam influenciar nessa interação e, consequentemente, em sua atratividade em cultivos simultâneos. O estudo foi realizado na região de Petrolina-PE/Juazeiro-BA e Mossoró-RN, em áreas com os híbridos de meloeiro do tipo amarelo, pele-de-sapo, cantaloupe e gália. Para o estudo da morfologia e a biologia floral, foram selecionadas flores hermafroditas e masculinas de cada híbrido, que foram avaliadas em relação às suas dimensões e da câmara nectarífera, produção de pólen e de néctar, horário de abertura e tempo de vida da flor. Os visitantes florais foram observados concomitantemente em híbridos de três tipos de meloeiro, no período das 5h às 18h, nos dois locais ...

Foraging of Honeybees (Apis mellifera) on Flowers of Yellow Melon (Cucumis melo): Duration of Visits

“…The results found in this work are consistent with the literature, which reports a higher attractiveness of HF, which is attributed to floral morphology and biology, such as diameter of the corolla, nectar chamber height and nectar production (Kiill et al, 2014(Kiill et al, , 2016. HF is larger than MF, and thus, offer larger landing surface for bees.…”

“…They are higher and possibly more visible to pollinators. In addition, they have deeper nectar chambers, allowing a greater accumulation of nectar (Kiill et al, 2016). This latter aspect could explain the longer duration of visits of honeybees to flowers.…”

Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) seed yield in relation to phosphorus fertilization and honeybee pollination

“…Our results were consistent with the findings obtained by Taha and Bayoumi (2009) and Adamson (2011) , who reported that insect pollination plays a vital role in producing high yields due to their help in the pollination of crop plants. The importance of insects visits to flowers and their pollination activity has been recognized in squash ( Skinner and Lovett, 1992 ), watermelon ( Stanghellini et al, 1997 , Bomfim et al, 2015 , Giannini et al, 2015 , Kiill et al, 2016 ), radish ( Chandrashekar, 2005 ), cucumber ( Stanghellini et al, 1997 ), Egyptian riverhemp ( Sajjad et al, 2009 ), summer seed watermelon ( Taha and Bayoumi, 2009 ), sesame ( Kumar and Lenin, 2000 , Mahfouz et al, 2012 ), apple tree, avocado, and pear ( Giannini et al, 2015 ). Adding 300 kg P 2 O 5 /ha/year resulted in non-significant differences between open pollination and honeybee pollination for the number of pods/raceme, the number of seeds/pod, and the weight of 1000 seeds, while significant differences (p < 0.01) were observed for the successful fruiting index, abortion percentage, and seed yield/m 2 .…”

Precision Phenotyping of Nectar-Related Traits Using X-ray Micro Computed Tomography

“…Flower morphology, together with color and scent, is one of the key traits that contribute to pollinator attraction, pollen dispersal, and plant reproductive success [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Flower morphology determines not only the physical access to nectar, but also the pollen deposition efficiency on the bee body and the acquisition of pollen by the stigma [ 4 , 5 ]. One of the best illustrating examples of an adaptation is the flower tube length in a hawkmoth-pollinated Gladiolus (Iridaceae) that positively correlated with the fruit and seed set production due to a better ‘fit’ between the flower and pollinator morphology [ 6 ].…”

“…Brassica species of varied ploidy levels also showed a positive correlation between the nectary size and nectar volume [ 12 ]. This could imply that a genetic selection should be directed towards the varieties with large organ sizes, large nectar reservoirs, or other flower features that correlate with the nectar quality or quantity-related traits [ 5 , 13 ]. Quantitative data on such traits in relation to the pollination efficiency, on the other hand, is scarce.…”