The biology of flowering and pollination in umbellate vegetables. Part II. Petroselinum sativum Hoffm.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine not only the occurrence of bloom of parsley, but also the degree of attractiveness of the flowers as well as the influence of insects on their pollination. There search was carried out during the 1978 and 1979 vegetation seasons. Observations were carried out near Lublin, on loess brown soil. The flowers of isolated plants were washed in order to determined the sugar content in nectar with a refractometer. The number of secreting stomata on the epidermis of nectary was on the average 575 per 1 mm<sup>2</sup>. The sugar weight in parsley equals 0.2 mg and the honey yield was 62.4 kg in 1978 and 160 kg in 1979 per ha. The yield of the nectar was mainly influenced by the 3rd row of urnbells. Isolation of flowers from pollinators caused a decrease of seed yield from 7% to 55% in 1978 and 21% to 38% in 1979. The presence of entomofauna on the flowers should be taken into consideration cohen the forecasting the seed yield in horticultural production of parsley.