Pollination as a key management tool in crop production: Kiwifruit orchards as a study case

Artificial pollination of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch. var. chinensis) (Ericales: Actinidiaceae) results in greater fruit set compared to flowers pollinated by managed bees (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae))

“…The potential economic losses associated with pollination limitation or failure justify the implementation of artificial pollination. Some studies have documented the combined benefits of implementing both insect pollination and artificial pollination as a pollination strategy to optimize fruit set and fruit quality (Lee et al 2019, Castro et al 2021), yet within our study orchard, implementing multiple pollination methods on a single crop to ensure high yields is costly, and may not be necessary. Although artificial pollination of kiwifruit is costly, it can offer many advantages over natural pollination (Castro et al 2021, Wurz et al 2021).…”

“…Kiwifruit exhibits a short bloom period (typically 1-2 weeks) and is, therefore, more susceptible to factors that could negatively impact pollination success such as pollen availability, pollinator abundance and activity, and adverse weather conditions during the bloom period (Clinch 1984, Testolin et al 1991, Costa et al 1993, Miñarro and Twizell 2015, Tacconi et al 2016, Castro et al 2021). To ensure adequate quantities of male kiwifruit pollen are available for cross-pollination, is it imperative that the bloom periods of at least one male kiwifruit pollinizer coincide with the female.…”

“…Additionally, due to the low numbers of pollinators visiting the kiwifruit blooms, documenting the movement of pollinators between male and female flowers was not possible. Because of the low diversity and abundance of pollinating insects visiting kiwifruit blooms within our study orchard, the implementation of other forms of pollination including the stocking of managed bees must be considered to achieve high levels of pollination success (Castro et al 2021). During the kiwifruit bloom period, weather conditions were optimal (average temperatures and wind speeds of 20°C, 1.9 ms, respectively) to facilitate cross-pollination via wind and insects, yet we still observed low fruit set in the wind pollination and insect pollination treatments.…”

“…chinensis ‘AU Gulf Coast Gold’ pollination via wind is ineffective to produce fruits compared to other kiwifruit cultivars. In the case of insect pollination, the foraging behavior of managed bees while stocked for crop pollination has been shown to be influenced by poor weather conditions and competing blooms (Rogers et al 2013, Miñarro and Twizell 2015, Castro et al 2021). Apis mellifera workers are prone to inactivity during periods of cooler temperatures and periods of high winds and rain, whereas B. impatiens workers readily forage in adverse weather conditions (Rogers et al 2013).…”

A Review: Pollinator Services and Its Economic Evaluation

“…They are found in nature but are not bound by any sort of discrimination, except the impact of climate and altitude on their presence. They simply make natural copulation by carrying pollen for the stigma region of the recipient flowers [11,51]. Starting from tiny insects, like the ladybird beetle to large animals like money and rodents, pollinators are among one of the most widely distributed categories in nature [7,8,13].…”