Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand.
Native Honeybee and Pollinator Research Center, Ratchaburi Campus, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thung Khru, Bangkok, Thailand.
PeerJ. 2023 May 5;11:e15367. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15367. eCollection 2023.
The stingless bee is distributed over a vast Southeast Asian territory. This species is commonly used as a commercial insect pollinator. Pollination efficacy of was investigated with tomato ( L.) cultivated in greenhouse environments. In the first experiment, the number of fruit sets, number of seeds, fresh weight, and fruit height were quantified in the greenhouse with stingless bees, without stingless bees, and with pollination by mechanical vibration by hand. In the second experiment, the treatments were conducted with tomatoes of indeterminate growth in the greenhouse with and without stingless bees to prevent variation among the different tomato plants. The obtained results showed that a greenhouse with stingless bees presented 85 ± 4.24 fruits per 100 flowers, more than a greenhouse with mechanical vibration (79.5 ± 2.12 fruits per 100 flowers) or a greenhouse without stingless bees (15 ± 0.00 fruits per 100 flowers). In addition, fruit produced in a greenhouse with stingless bees showed greater fruit weight and number of seeds than fruit produced in a greenhouse without stingless bees or pollinated by mechanical vibration. According to the obtained results, we suggest that could be beneficial as an insect pollinator of greenhouse tomatoes in tropical regions, where the use of honeybees and bumblebees would be more difficult.
无刺蜂分布于东南亚广大地区。这种物种通常被用作商业昆虫传粉者。在温室环境中种植的番茄（L.）中，对其进行了授粉效果的研究。在第一个实验中，在温室中，有、无无刺蜂和手动机械振动授粉的情况下，对果实结实数、种子数、鲜重和果实高度进行了量化。在第二个实验中，在温室中进行了有和无无刺蜂的番茄不定生长处理，以防止不同番茄植株之间的差异。结果表明，温室中有无刺蜂的情况下，每 100 朵花有 85±4.24 个果实，比温室中有机械振动（每 100 朵花 79.5±2.12 个果实）或无无刺蜂的温室（每 100 朵花 15±0.00 个果实）多。此外，温室中有无刺蜂的果实比无无刺蜂或机械振动授粉的果实具有更大的果实重量和种子数。根据研究结果，我们建议在热带地区，无刺蜂可以作为温室番茄的有益昆虫传粉者，因为在热带地区使用蜜蜂和熊蜂会更加困难。
