KIWIFRUIT POLLINATION: BEES AND WIND CONTRIBUTION

Abstract

The aim of the experiment was to define the wind and the bees effect on kiwifrut pollination. Experiment was carried out for two years in an adult kiwifruit orchard, with a ratio between staminate (cv Matua) and pistillate (cv Hayward) vines of 1:7. Four different pollination treatments were tested on kiwifruit. Bees effectiveness was evaluated on both open pollination (OP-Bees) or net-isolated vines conditions (IV-Bees). The results obtained were compared with those achieved on net-isolated vines without bees in (IV-Wind) and on hand-pollinated vines (HP). Four rows (80 vines) were net-isolated and 14 uniform vines per treatment were choosen to collect productive data. In the IV-Wind treatment traps were used to capture insects present inside the nets. Wind speed was detected inside and outside the nets. Data showed that the net isolation system did not consistently modify wind speed and no insects were founds in the traps. As far as productive data best results were obtained on HP vines. Bee-pollinated vines always reached higher yield and average fruit weight than wind-pollinated vines. However no statistical differences were detected between fruit weight of OP-Bees and IV-Wind vines treatments. The results showed that in general bees represent a more efficient pollination agent than wind, even if the health of the bees and the position of the hives in the orchard have to be carefully considered to achieve best results.