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Insect Pollination, More than Plant Nutrition, Determines Yield Quantity and Quality in Apple and Pear

  • Insect Pollinators
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Abstract

Agricultural yield is the result of multiple factors and ecological processes (e.g., pollination, fertilization, pest control). Understanding how the different factors interact is fundamental to designing management practices aimed to increase these yields, which are environmental friendly and sustainable over time. In this study, we focus on insect pollination and plant nutrition status, since they are two key factors that influence crop yield. The study was carried out in Northwest Patagonia Argentina, which is an area of intensive production of pears and apples of global importance, during the harvest seasons 2018 and 2019. The plant nutrition was estimated from leaf chlorophyll content. Biotic pollination benefits were evaluated by comparing fruit quantity (fruit to flower ratio) and quality (weight, size, and sugar concentration) from approximately 25 flowers exposed to pollinators and 25 flowers excluded to them per tree (a total of 160 apple trees and 130 pear trees). In addition, we estimated the visitation rate of pollinators to flowers and related it to fruit quality in apple. Despite different floral characteristics, we found in both crops a positive effect of insect pollination in both the quantity and the quality of the fruits. Interestingly, the nutrition of the trees, although variable, did not affect either the quantity or the quality of the fruits. Despite the weak effect of nutrition, we found no interaction between pollination and plant nutrition (i.e., additive effects). These results highlight the importance of agricultural practices that promote pollinators on farms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank owners and managers of the farms for opening their doors. We also want to thank Néstor Pérez-Méndez who made valuable comments on the previous version of the manuscript and to Adrián González Chaves, Maria Ramos, Dulce Gómez Carella, Tatiana Machado de Souza, Eduardo Moreira, Rafaela Santos, Alberto Girotto, Joana Ferreira, and Grecia de Groot who assisted in the field.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2015-2333).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ Nacional de Río Negro, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    P L Hünicken & L A Garibaldi

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    P L Hünicken & L A Garibaldi

  3. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Sede Andina, UNRN, Viedma, Argentina

    P L Hünicken & L A Garibaldi

  4. Instituto Biodiversidad y Medio Ambiente (INIBIOMA), Univ Nacional del Comahue-CONICET, Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    C L Morales

  5. Centro PYME, Agencia de Desarrollo Económico del Neuquén, Neuquén, Argentina

    N García

Authors
  1. P L Hünicken
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  2. C L Morales
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  3. N García
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  4. L A Garibaldi
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Contributions

LAG and PLH conceived the idea and designed the study. PLH and NG collected the data. PLH analyzed the data with substantial inputs from LAG. PLH, LAG, and CLM led the writing of the manuscript. All authors gave final approval for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P L Hünicken.

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Edited by Claudia Inês Silva – UNESP

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Hünicken, P.L., Morales, C.L., García, N. et al. Insect Pollination, More than Plant Nutrition, Determines Yield Quantity and Quality in Apple and Pear. Neotrop Entomol 49, 525–532 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-020-00763-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-020-00763-0

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