ABSTRACT

Pollination by insects is critical for the production of many crops worldwide. Crop cultivars vary in a number of traits, but their differing pollination requirements are often overlooked. Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) is reliant on pollen movement between male and female plants, but there has been disagreement in the literature about what its pollination requirements are. Additionally, there is little information about how time-of-day might affect fruit and seed set, and how this may alter the efficacy of pollination management strategies. In this study, we compare the pollination requirements of A. chinensis var. deliciosa ‘Hayward’ (a hexaploid green-fleshed variety) and A. chinensis var. chinensis ‘Zesy002’ (a tetraploid gold-fleshed variety). We find that ‘Zesy002’ requires fewer pollen grains than ‘Hayward’ for full seed set. Kiwifruit appears to be equally able to set fruit at any time of the day, meaning that insects which forage outside the peak hours of 0900–1500 h may play an important supporting role in fruit production, and that artificial pollination could profitably be applied into the evening hours rather than being limited to the period of peak pollinator activity.

摘要

昆虫的授粉对于全世界许多农作物的生产至关重要。作物品种在许多性状上都有差异，但是它们不同的授粉要求常常被忽略。猕猴桃（Actinidia chinensis）依赖于雄性和雌性植物之间的花粉运动，但是在文献中关于其授粉要求是存在分歧的。此外，关于一天中的时间如何影响果实和种子结实以及如何改变授粉管理策略的有效性的信息很少。在这项研究中，我们比较了中华曲霉的授粉要求。deliciosa'Hayward '（六倍体绿色肉食品种）和A. chinensis var。中华'Zesy002'（四倍体金肉变种）。我们发现，“ Zesy002”所需的花粉粒数比“ Hayward”所需的花粉少。奇异果似乎能够在一天中的任何时间结实，这意味着在0900–1500 h高峰时段以外觅食的昆虫可能在水果生产中起重要的支持作用，而人工授粉可以有益地应用于水果中。晚上，而不是局限于授粉高峰期。