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Comparison of common green bottle flies (Lucilia sericata Meigen) and stingless bees (Tetragonula laeviceps Smith) as pollinating agents for imported true shallot (Allium cepa L.) seed production
Agriculture and Natural Resources -- formerly Kasetsart Journal (Natural Science), Volume 056, Issue 2, March 2022- April 2022, Pages 409-416
ISSN: 2452-316X(0075-5192)
DOI: doi.org/10.34044/j.anres.2022.56.2.18
Ramadhani Eka Putraa,*, Winda Nazirah Sulistiab, Ida Kinasihc, Rika Raffiudind, Hery Purnobasukie, RC Hidayat Soesilohadif, Nur Fajrinag, Andrina Juansag
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aSchool of Life Sciences and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia. Department of Biology, Insitut Teknologi Sumatera, Lampung 35365, Indonesia
bSchool of Life Sciences and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, 40132, Indonesia
cDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Bandung, West Java 40614, Indonesia
dDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, IPB University, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
eFaculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia
fFaculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
gSeed Research Department, PT East West Seed Indonesia, Purwakarta 41181, Indonesia
*Corresponding author, e-mail: ramadhani@sith.itb.ac.id
Abstract
Importance of the work: The pollination process for true shallot seeds (TSSs) is usually conducted based on high-cost hand pollination that could be replaced by insects. Objectives: To investigate two insect species as possible replacements to hand pollination for TSS production. Materials & Methods: Common green bottle flies (Lucilia sericata Meigen) and stingless bees (Tetragonula laeviceps Smith) were used as pollinating agents for shallot plants in cages. The applications consisted of 100 flies, 300 flies, 500 flies, 1 colony of stingless bees, hand pollination, open pollination and a control. Variables observed were insect activity, pollination success and seed quality. Results: Green bottle flies visited more flowers (15.2 ± 4.5 flowers/min) and spent, significantly, more time on flowers (135 ± 46 s/flower) than stingless bees (5 ± 3 flowers/min and 81 ± 18 s/flower, respectively). The highest pollination success and seed quality values were recorded for the hand pollination group (61.91% and 1.22 g, respectively) though these were not significantly different from the results using 500 green bottle flies (60.56% and 1.09 g, respectively). However, the seeds produced using stingless bee pollination had a significantly higher germination rate. Main finding: Green bottle flies and stingless bees could be applied (partially or totally) as a replacement for hand pollination for imported TSS production. However, due to the possible negative consequences of the mass production of green bottle flies, the application of stingless bees as pollinating agents for TSS production would be preferable.
Keywords
Green bottle flies, Pollination, Stingless bees, True shallot seeds
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