The use of different stingless bee species to pollinate cherry tomatoes under protected cultivation

Abstract

Under standard greenhouse conditions, the tomato fruits resulting from spontaneous self-pollination are expected to be of lower quality than those from bee pollination. In addition, the use of species with different behaviors is expected to change productivity differently. To test these hypotheses, we evaluated the pollination services from the use of three native stingless bee species with distinct foraging behaviors, Melipona bicolor Lepeletier, 1836, Nannotrigona testaceicornis (Lepeletier, 1836), and Partamona helleri (Friese, 1900) during the blooming period of cherry tomatoes in greenhouses. Fruit quality parameters resulting from pollination experiments were measured and the acclimatization of the analyzed bee species was evaluated. Visits of M. bicolor and N. testaceicornis to the tomato flowers contributed significantly to increases in the average weight, seed number, and thickness of the pericarp (only for N. testaceicornis) of the fruits, compared to the spontaneous selfpollination treatment. Partamona helleri, however, did not show any pollen collection behavior in the experimental conditions. Although N. testaceicornis did not perform the buzzing behavior, fruits from its pollination were equivalent to fruits from pollination by M. bicolor. The use of bee species with different flower-visiting behaviors can optimize tomato pollination in greenhouses and help to standardize fruit weights, contributing significantly to the quality of the fruits and increasing productivity, with consequent increases in commercial value.