Resumen

MONTEMOR, Kleber A  y  MALERBO SOUZA, Darclet T. Solanum melongena Pollinators biodiversity and floral biology on eggplant crop (Solanum melongena). Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2009, vol.27, n.1, pp.097-103. ISSN 0798-7269.

The present experiment was carried out at Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, in 2006 and 2007 with the objective to identify the pollinators and the behavior (frequency, constancy, nectar, and pollen collection) of insects on flowers of eggplant crop (Solanum melongena L.). For this, there were recorded the frequency of the insects (counted during ten min, every hour) from 7:00 to 18:00 h with three replications (different days). The eggplant flowers did not show a specific time to open. Exomalopsis sp., Pseudaugochloropsis gramínea, Bombus atratus, Oxaea flavescens, and Trigona spinipes were the visitors on egg plant flowers in 2006 (29.9, 23.9, 20.9, 19.1, and 6.2%, respectively) and B. atratus, P. gramínea, Exomalopsis sp. e O. flavescens (38.6, 25.9, 21.3, and 14.2%, respectively) in 2007. The evaluated bees collected only pollen from flowers and only T. spinipes did not present a vibrate forage behavior. Exomalopsis sp., P. gramínea, and B. atratus were considered important pollinators of this vegetable species. The presence of these bees increased eggplant production.

Palabras clave : forage behaviour; pollinators; pollination; eggplant; Solanum melongena.

        · resumen en Portugués     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )