Efisiensi Penyerbukan oleh Penyerbuk Liar dan Lebah Tetragonula laeviceps pada Bunga Ranti dan Kacang Panjang

Abstract

Insect pollination is an effort to increase the efficiency of fruit production on limited land. The research aimed to observe the activity and pollination efficiency of wild insects and Tetragonula laeviceps on black nightshade plants and yardlong beans using an intercropping system in Sukawangi Village, Sumedang Regency from September to January 2020. Observations were made at 08:00-15:00 WIB during the flowering period. Observations were made on the treatment of T. laeviceps application, open-pollination, and self-pollination, each treatment consisting of 100 black nightshade flowers and 100 yardlong bean flowers and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (α = 0.05). Insect activity was measured based on flower handling time, foraging rate, visitation rate, and fruit set. Fruit quality was measured based on diameter, weight, length, and oBrix. The study recorded 3 visiting insect flowers in black nightshade and yardlong, which potentially act as a pollinator, with varying visit patterns in open-pollination. The highest fruit set efficiency of black nightshade occurred in the application treatment of T. laeviceps and yardlong beans in the open-pollination treatment. There was significant in oBrix of black nightshade fruit and yardlong beans, whereas self-pollination only yielded significantly longer fruit in yardlong beans. Thus, T. laeviceps could be used as one possible domesticated pollinator to improve fruit set efficiency and fruit quality of black nightshade and yardlong beans.

Keywords: fruit quality, fruit set, insect activity