Reduction of pollen viability of cantaloupe melon (Cucumis melo L., Cucurbitaceae) by honeybee body hairs contact
2008
Dibos, Chloe | Gibert, Caroline | Suchail, Séverine | Vaissière, Bernard | El Maataoui, Mohamed | Queen's University Belfast
Honeybees take part in 80% of Angiosperms pollination. With pollen transport and transferfrom flower to flower, they increase fruit and seed set compared to hand pollination.Nevertheless, it was shown in some species that bee contact decreases pollen viability. Theaim of this study was to assess the bee contact effect on Cucurbitaceae pollen viabilityduring different times. The studied model is cantaloupe melon (Cucumis melo L.), aneconomically important crop of Southern France. Pollen was collected and artificially appliedto honeybee body hairs. The pollen viability was determined after 1 h; 2.5 h and 4 h of beecontact by fluorochromatic reaction (FCR). After the first hour, the viability of pollen in contactwith honeybee body hairs was null whereas the viability of pollen without contact (control)was 45 %. These results show c1early that honeybee body hairs affect the cantaloupe pollenviability since 1 hour of contact. This would be due to substances present on body hairs likecuticular hydrocarbons or secretions of mandibular and labial glands deposited on body hairsby brushing. Studies are in progress (i) to identify the biochemical nature of the substancesaffecting pollen viability and (ii) to determine the period during which bee can transport viablepollen able to fertilize plant after harvesting.
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