ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1408: IX International Cherry Symposium
Insect pollination improves fruit set, yield and fruit quality of commercial sweet cherry |
| Authors: | F. Queirós, R. Carvalho, R. de Sousa, C. Sánchez |
| Keywords: | cherry tree, flowering, fruit set, pollination service, honeybees |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1408.37 |
| Abstract:
Insect pollination is fundamental for sustainable production of crop species. Despite the recognized importance of insect pollination for cherry yield, its influence on cherry quality is less well understood. In order to promote insect pollination as an important factor for the improvement of fruit production, the “PoliMax” project aims to assess the effect of insect pollinators on fruit yield and quality of sweet cherry. In two orchards in the Fundão region (Portugal), 15 trees of the self-compatible 'Folfer' cultivar were randomly selected. In each tree, 28 fruiting spurs, each with only 5 flowers, were subjected to the following pollination treatments: A – insect pollination; B – insect pollination exclusion (floral buds isolated from the access of pollinating insects with bags); C – hand pollination (isolated floral buds whose flowers were hand pollinated) and D – insect pollination plus hand pollination (“supplementary” pollination). The insect pollination services were characterized by recording the flower-visiting pollinators during the flowering period. To quantify fruit set, the number of developing cherry fruits from each marked spur was counted in all treatments 4 weeks after full bloom. At harvest, fruit number from each pollination treatment was recorded and the fruits collected were evaluated for weight, diameter, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), pH and acidity. Although the tested cultivar is self-compatible, our results show that both fruit set and yield of cherry trees was highly dependent on insect pollination, since the bagged flowers (B) produced only 3% of the fruits produced by open-pollinated flowers (A and D). The high rate of floral visits was mainly due to the honeybee activity, because hives are placed in the orchard. Insect pollination also affected cherry quality, since treatments A and D showed more homogeneous fruits in terms of weight and size, and higher TSS. Our research shows the importance of the pollination service provided mainly by honeybees for the production and quality of sweet cherries. | |
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