Importância dos insetos na produção de melancia (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) - Cucurbitaceae

Darclet Terezinha Malerbo Souza; Anderson Marques Tadeu; Paulo César Bettini; Vagner de Alencar Arnaut de Toledo

doi:10.4025/actasciagron.v21i0.4289

Importance of insects in watermelon production (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) - Cucurbitaceae

Authors

Darclet Terezinha Malerbo Souza Centro Universitário Moura Lacerda Author
Anderson Marques Tadeu FAFRAM Author
Paulo César Bettini FAFRAM Author
Vagner de Alencar Arnaut de Toledo UEM Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v21i0.4289

Keywords:

melancia, polinização, abelhas, insetos

Abstract

The present experiment was carried out at Faculdade de Agronomia Dr. Francisco Maeda, Brazil to study the frequency, the type (nectar and/or pollen) of collection, the behaviour of insects on watermelon flowers (Citrullus lanatus) and its effect on quantitative and qualitative fruit production. The most frequent insects on watermelon flowers were ants - Formicidae (37.2%), followed by stingless bees Melipona sp. (32.0%) and Trigona sp. (9.0%), flies - Diptera (9.0%), beetles - Coleoptera (7.7%) and butterflies - Lepidoptera (5.1%). However, the stingless bees Melipona sp. were 53.2% of the visitors to watermelon male flowers. Africanized honey bees were not observed in watermelon flowers. After 4 p.m. no insect was observed in the flowers. Flowers not visited by insects did not produce fruit, in the covered area. It was observed that 64.3% of the fruits presented irregular spherical shape. Dryness and pollinators absence may explain these data, once no fruit production occurred without insect visits.

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Author Biography

Darclet Terezinha Malerbo Souza, Centro Universitário Moura Lacerda

Possui graduação em Zootecnia pela Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (1987) , mestrado em Ciências (Entomologia) pela Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto Usp (1991) e doutorado em Produção Animal pela Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (1996) . Atualmente é Professor adjunto do Centro Universitário Moura Lacerda. Tem experiência na área de Zootecnia , com ênfase em Ecologia dos Animais Domésticos e Etologia. Atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: Polinização, atrativos, repelentes, Apis mellifera, Comportamento forrageiro e Produção agrícola Currículo Lattes

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PDF (Portuguese)

Published

2008-07-14

Issue

Vol. 21 (1999)

Section

Agronomy

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How to Cite

Souza, D. T. M., Tadeu, A. M., Bettini, P. C., & Toledo, V. de A. A. de. (2008). Importance of insects in watermelon production (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) - Cucurbitaceae. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, 21, 579-583. https://doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v21i0.4289