HONEY BEE CONTRIBUTION TO ‘BORDÔ’ GRAPEVINE FRUIT PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT The production of fruits and seeds of many crops is increased when bees visit their flowers pollinating them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different pollination treatments on ‘Bordô’ grapevine (Vitis labrusca L.) fruit quantity and quality. Quantitative and qualitative fruit production parameters of plants visited by Apis mellifera L., manually self- and cross-pollinated plants and plants without pollination were analyzed and compared. Fruit production was high for all treatments and all fruits presented four seeds per fruit, on average, confirming that this grape cultivar is autogamous. However, fruit set after spontaneous self-pollination was statistically lower than that of all other treatments, and pollination by A. mellifera showed the highest fruit production. Furthermore, pollination by honey bees resulted in increased biomass, reflected on fruit weight, but the content of soluble solids remained unchanged. The results of this study showed that there is no need of pollinators for fruit production of ‘Bordô’ cv., but the presence of these agents, in particular Apis mellifera, influences commercially important quality parameters such as fruit yield and fresh weight. Therefore, the use of bee hives in areas with deficit of pollinating insects may promote an improvement in yield and quality of this cultivar.摘要 诸多作物的果实与种子产量，在蜜蜂造访其花朵完成授粉后可显著提升。本研究旨在评估不同授粉处理对‘Bordô’葡萄（Vitis labrusca L.）果实产量与品质的影响。本研究对受西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera L.）访花的植株、人工自花授粉植株、人工异花授粉植株以及未授粉植株的果实产量定量与定性参数展开分析与对比。所有处理组的果实产量均处于较高水平，且所有果实平均每果含4粒种子，证实该葡萄品种为自交可育品种。然而，自发自花授粉后的坐果率经统计学分析显著低于其余所有处理组，而西方蜜蜂授粉处理的果实产量最高。此外，蜜蜂授粉可提升果实生物量，具体表现为单果重量增加，但可溶性固形物含量未出现显著变化。本研究结果表明，‘Bordô’葡萄品种的果实生产无需依赖传粉媒介，但此类传粉者（尤其是西方蜜蜂）的存在，会对果实产量与单果重量等具有商业价值的品质参数产生影响。因此，在传粉昆虫匮乏的区域放置蜂箱，可有效提升该品种的果实产量与品质。