Abstract
Peach Prunus persica (L.) Batsch is self-compatible and largely self-fertile, but under greenhouse conditions pollinators must be introduced to achieve good fruit set and quality. Because little work has been done to assess the effectiveness of different pollinators on peach trees under greenhouse conditions, we studied ‘Okubo’ peach in greenhouse tunnels near Beijing between 2012 and 2014. We measured pollen deposition, pollen-tube growth rates, ovary development, and initial fruit set after the flowers were visited by either of two managed pollinators: bumblebees, Bombus patagiatus Nylander, and honeybees, Apis mellifera L. The results show that B. patagiatus is more effective than A. mellifera as a pollinator of peach in greenhouses because of differences in two processes. First, B. patagiatus deposits more pollen grains on peach stigmas than A. mellifera, both during a single visit and during a whole day of open pollination. Second, there are differences in the fertilization performance of the pollen deposited. Half of the flowers visited by B. patagiatus are fertilized 9–11 days after bee visits, while for flowers visited by A. mellifera, half are fertilized 13–15 days after bee visits. Consequently, fruit development is also accelerated by bumblebees, showing that the different pollinators have not only different pollination efficiency, but also influence the subsequent time course of fertilization and fruit set. Flowers visited by B. patagiatus show faster ovary growth and ultimately these flowers produce more fruit. Our work shows that pollinators may influence fruit production beyond the amount of pollen delivered. We show that managed indigenous bumblebees significantly outperform introduced honeybees in increasing peach initial fruit set under greenhouse conditions.
Highlights
Peach Prunus persica (L.) Batsch is a popular and healthy summer fruit in most temperate regions of the world
We show that managed indigenous bumblebees significantly outperform introduced honeybees in increasing peach initial fruit set under greenhouse conditions
We found that flowers from all pollination treatments produced fruit, the initial fruit set of Okubo peach was significantly affected by the pollination treatment
Summary
Peach Prunus persica (L.) Batsch is a popular and healthy summer fruit in most temperate regions of the world. Protected cultivation of peach trees can help growers overcome some of the limitations, offering a highly profitable inter-seasonal harvest. In north China, protected cultivation of peach trees has reached the point where there are advantages from large-scale cultivation [2], but pollination remains a limiting factor. Peach is a self-compatible crop [9] and many varieties are considered self-fertile in the open as autonomous self-pollination is usually adequate to achieve commercial fruit set [10, 11]. In the absence of wind and insects, as in greenhouses, commercially acceptable levels of fruit set and good fruit quality are difficult to achieve, especially since anther dehiscence can be considerably reduced due to the high humidity under the plastic cover of greenhouses [16]
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