Self-compatible blueberry cultivars require fewer floral visits to maximise fruit production than a partially self-incompatible cultivar

Effective pollination is a complex phenomenon determined by the outcome of the interaction between pollen transfer and a plants’ pollinator dependency, yet most studies investigate pollinator effectiveness without consideration of plant mating system differences.

We investigated pollinator effectiveness in three types of blueberry that differed in their degree of pollinator dependency as measured by plant mating system: two self-compatible highbush cultivars and one partially self-incompatible rabbiteye cultivar. We quantified pollinator effectiveness as a function of the fruit set and fruit weight resulting from single and multiple floral visits (2 – 15 visits), in comparison with estimates of fruit set and fruit weight resulting from experimental pollination treatments (open-pollination, cross-pollination and self-pollination).

Single-visit effectiveness of fruit set was similar across pollinator taxa but considerably higher in both self-compatible cultivars. The probability of ...