Abstract

REYES-CARRILLO, José Luis; CANO-RIOS, Pedro  and  NAVA-CAMBEROS, Urbano. Optimum pollination period in the muskemelon with honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Agric. Téc. Méx [online]. 2009, vol.35, n.4, pp.371-378. ISSN 0568-2517.

This research was carried out in the Comarca Lagunera region in order to answer the questions of when to introduce the beehives to the muskmelon fields and when to take them out. Muskmelon hybrids Gold Rush (2001) and Cruiser (2002) were used in this study. Planting dates were in April 18 in 2001 and April 26 in 2002. Four beehives per ha were used for pollination purposes. In 2001 nine treatments were studied: In treatments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 bee pollination began as follows: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th week of blooming, respectively. For treatments 6-9, bee pollination was as follows: 6= bee pollination the 1^st week and then covered with Agribon® net the rest of the blooming period, therefore, treatment 9 was pollinated during the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th week of blooming and then covered with Agribon® the rest of the blooming period. In 2002 a 10^th treatment was added, which was covered all the blooming period. A significant quadratic relationship was found between the first five treatments and commercial yield with a determination coefficient of 92.5%. This quadratic model showed that when pollination began at the beginning of blooming the yield might be about 44.3 t ha^-1 and 3.17 t ha^-1 may be lost for each day in bee pollination delay. This data indicates that beehives should remain 28 days in the muskmelon field.

Keywords : Cucumis melo; pollinators; Agribon®; fruit set; beehives.

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