Floral Patches and Their Impact on Pollinator Attraction and Yield Production on Cucurbita maxima Var. Paine in Central Chile

Santiago Donoso,Maureen Murúa

doi:10.3390/d13120608

Abstract

In recent decades, it has been shown that pollination deficit can significantly affect crop production. Moreover, now it is known that the appropriate management of pollination can increase the quantity and quality of yields. Therefore, pollination appears to be a key component in modern agriculture. This study aimed to determine the impact of floral patch addition on the quality and quantity of Cucurbita maxima fruit production. To this end, we manually added a set of ornamental plant species to the edge of the crop and monitored the pollinator diversity and visit frequency, as well as the seed set and sugar content of the pumpkin yield, in treatment and control parcels. The results showed that there was a higher visit rate in the treated parcel. Only the sugar content, and not the seed set, was affected by the addition of ornamental species and the pollinator visit rate. These findings indicate that the addition of flowering plants can favor different components of the crop yield of this species, but future studies should sample on a broader spatial and temporal scale in order to certify the generalizability of our results.

Highlights

When crop productivity problems are observed, hydric and nutrient regimes are immediately reviewed, but pollination deficit is rarely considered
Studies conducted over the last decade have determined that a pollination deficit in crops can be even more damaging than a deficit in resources such as water and nutrients, since these resources are easier to manage compared to pollination [1]
On average, we observed that the mean visitation rate in the control plot was half that of the registered in plot T1 (Table 1), which was a statistically significant difference (ANOVA: Z = 0.62, t-value = 3.71, p = 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

When crop productivity problems are observed, hydric and nutrient regimes are immediately reviewed, but pollination deficit is rarely considered. Studies conducted over the last decade have determined that a pollination deficit in crops can be even more damaging than a deficit in resources such as water and nutrients, since these resources are easier to manage compared to pollination [1]. Today it is known that the appropriate management of pollination can increase the quantity and quality of crop yield [2,3]. In canola crops (Brassica napus) it has been observed that a greater diversity of pollinating insects improves the oil content in its seeds [4]. Improvements in pollinator management increase the size, color, and firmness of apples, strawberries, and blueberries [5,6,7,8,9]. Pollination appears to be a key component in modern agriculture

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Conclusion