Abstract
The African oil palm weevil, Elaeidobius kamerunicus is an effective pollinator of oil palm. Each individual palm produces exclusively male or female inflorescence so that the success of pollination depends on the ability of the pollinator to transfer pollen from male to female flowers. The objective of this research was to study the amount of pollen carried by E. kamerunicus between male and female inflorescences (pollen load) and the amount of pollen carried on each part of the weevil’s body (pollen distribution). Fifty each of male and female E. kamerunicus individuals were collected from male and female flowers on trees in 3 locations: Siantar (North Sumatra), Dramaga (West Java), and Morowali (Central Sulawesi). Data on pollen load and pollen distribution on the weevil’s body were analyzed using ImageJ software. Results show that E. kamerunicus individuals collected more pollen from male flowers than from female flowers. In addition, male insects carried more pollen on their bodies than female insects. Pollen distribution on weevil body parts was highest on the elytra, followed by the thorax, abdomen, legs, and head respectively.
Highlights
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) is the highest yielding vegetable oil crop in the world (Hartley 1967; Tandon et al 2001), and in cultivation, pollination is one of the most important factors affecting production yield
In addition to variation in pollen load according to location and body size, in this study we found that male E. kamerunicus carried a higher pollen load than females in all study site locations, whether gathered from male or female flowers
The pollen load carried by E. kamerunicus collected from male flowers was greater than the amount of pollen carried by E. kamerunicus collected from female flowers
Summary
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) is the highest yielding vegetable oil crop in the world (Hartley 1967; Tandon et al 2001), and in cultivation, pollination is one of the most important factors affecting production yield. E. guineensis is a monoecious plant, having both male and female flowers on the same tree, but co-located flowers are generally not able to pollinate each other. Flowers are receptive only to pollen from other oil palm individuals and so pollination must occur via wind dispersal or insects such as pollinator weevils (Hartley 1967; Sparnaaij 1969). Pollination by pollinator weevil is considered more effective than wind because insects can carry pollen to the inside of the flower (Syed 1979). Is an effective pollinator weevil for oil palm. Pollination occurs when E. kamerunicus carrying pollen on their body travels out from the male inflorescences and visits receptive female inflorescences on other trees, drawn by the attractive effect of estragole. Estragole is a volatile compound released by female flowers that is similar to volatile compounds are released by male flowers (Susanto et al 2007)
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