Riqueza e importância das abelhas em cultivo orgânico de tomate em área urbana

Abstract

Bees have a fundamental role in pollinating and reproducing many plants, but the increasingly presence of pesticides reduces their visits to crops. Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, is an agricultural product that occupies a prominent place in the human diet and the organic cultivation system is becoming even more common among farmers. The aim of this study was to know the diversity of florwer visiting bees in an organic tomato crop and to analyze their importance in fruit production. Pollen collection behavior, the effect of anemophilous and entomophilous pollination and the increase of native stingless bees (Melipona quadrifasciata) in cultivation were analyzed. The research was conducted in a semi-open greenhouse located on a private property of urban agriculture in the city of Uberlândia-MG. Fruit quality was assessed using attributes such as mass, length, diameter and number of seeds. Five bee species from the Apidae family and one species from the Halictidae family were observed. The colonies of Melipona quadrifasciata did not have favorable results for fruiting, because worker bees were not seen visiting tomato flowers. Exomalopsis sp. and Augochlora sp. were the only bee species identified as pollinators in the crop, using buzz pollination to collect pollen. Fruits pollinated by these bees presented 26.5% more seeds than the control and 21.6% more seeds than fruits resulted from wind pollination. These results suggest that it is possible to obtain good quality fruits, being able to use pollinating agents to increase the seeds production.