Hand and Machine Pollination of Kiwifruit

Razeto, Bruno; Reginato, G.; Larrain, A

doi:10.1300/j492v05n02_05

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Pollen dusting is expected to be less effective than normal insect pollination, both in terms of fruit set and fruit quality [50]. Fruit set resulting from pollen dusting is estimated to be 73.5% less as compared to insect pollination (an average of the results of [47], [48].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of commercial companies promote the use of pollen dusters (e.g. [49] ) with reliable pollination efficacy data on this method being available [47] , [50] . Two applications of pollen are typically recommended for commercial pollen dusting.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In considering pollen dusting and hand pollination as the only viable replacements of insect pollination services, we need to take into account the relative efficacy of the methods. Pollen dusting is expected to be less effective than normal insect pollination, both in terms of fruit set and fruit quality [50] . Fruit set resulting from pollen dusting is estimated to be 73.5% less as compared to insect pollination (an average of the results of [47] , [48] .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Valuing Insect Pollination Services with Cost of Replacement

2008

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Value estimates of ecosystem goods and services are useful to justify the allocation of resources towards conservation, but inconclusive estimates risk unsustainable resource allocations. Here we present replacement costs as a more accurate value estimate of insect pollination as an ecosystem service, although this method could also be applied to other services. The importance of insect pollination to agriculture is unequivocal. However, whether this service is largely provided by wild pollinators (genuine ecosystem service) or managed pollinators (commercial service), and which of these requires immediate action amidst reports of pollinator decline, remains contested. If crop pollination is used to argue for biodiversity conservation, clear distinction should be made between values of managed- and wild pollination services. Current methods either under-estimate or over-estimate the pollination service value, and make use of criticised general insect and managed pollinator dependence factors. We apply the theoretical concept of ascribing a value to a service by calculating the cost to replace it, as a novel way of valuing wild and managed pollination services. Adjusted insect and managed pollinator dependence factors were used to estimate the cost of replacing insect- and managed pollination services for the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry of South Africa. Using pollen dusting and hand pollination as suitable replacements, we value pollination services significantly higher than current market prices for commercial pollination, although lower than traditional proportional estimates. The complexity associated with inclusive value estimation of pollination services required several defendable assumptions, but made estimates more inclusive than previous attempts. Consequently this study provides the basis for continued improvement in context specific pollination service value estimates.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Valuing Insect Pollination Services with Cost of Replacement

2008

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“…Hand pollination with a cotton swab or a small brush is an effective method that has been used since ancient times as it allowed operators to apply pollen grains directly to flowers (Abrol, 2012;Barth, 1991;Real, 1983); however, this method required heavy labor to manually apply the pollen grains to all flowers within a farm in a timely manner. Machine pollination methods such as pollen blowers, dusters, and spray dispensers have been alternatively used recently to reduce the human labor and the reliance on insect pollination (Razeto et al, 2005;Williams et al, 2019); however, the expenses incurred from these conventional machine pollination methods have largely increased owing to the cost of pollen grains. In fact, these approaches produce a large number of inefficient pollen grains, especially those scattered from machines, which are not directly targeted toward the flowers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With this aside, a large number of pollen grains are easily scattered in orchards through conventional artificial pollination with a brush and a machine pressure sprayer (Razeto et al, 2005;Williams et al, 2019). Unfortunately, the scattered pollen grains non-specifically attach to superfluous flowers, which often disturb the bearing and harvest of fruits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soap Bubble Pollination

Yang

Miyako

2020

iScience

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Natural and artificial flower pollination are critical processes in the life cycle of flowering plants. Declines in the number of global pollinator insects, the heavy labor of conducting artificial pollination manually, and the rising cost of pollen grains are considered to be significant worldwide problems. Here we show that chemically functionalized soap bubbles exhibit effective and convenient delivery of pollen grains to the targeted flowers thanks to their stickiness, softness, high flexibility, and enhancement of pollen activity. By exploring the physicochemical properties of functional soap bubbles, we could prepare mechanically stabilized soap bubbles capable of withstanding the windmills produced by robotic pollination. An unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a soap bubble maker was autonomously controlled to pollinate flowers. Such technology of automatic intelligent robotic pollination with functional soft materials would lead to innovative agricultural systems that can tackle the global issues of pollination.

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