Bumblebee pollination enhances yield and flavor of tomato in Gobi Desert greenhouses

Zhang, H., Han, C., Breeze, T. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-8354, Li, M., Mashilingi, S. K., Hua, J., Zhang, W., Zhang, X., Zhang, S. and An, J. (2022) Bumblebee pollination enhances yield and flavor of tomato in Gobi Desert greenhouses. Agriculture, 12 (6). 795. ISSN 2077-0472 doi: 10.3390/agriculture12060795

Abstract/Summary

<jats:p>Bumblebee pollination is crucial to the production of tomato in protected cultivation. Both tomato yield and flavor play important roles in attracting attentions from growers and consumers. Compared with yield, much less work has been conducted to investigate whether and how pollination methods affect tomato flavor. In this study, the effects of bumblebee pollination, vibrator treatment, and plant growth regulator (PGR) treatment on tomato yield and flavor were tested in Gobi Desert greenhouses. Compared with vibrator or PGR treatments, bumblebee pollinated tomato had higher and more stable fruit set, heavier fruit weight, and more seed. We also found that the seed quantity positively correlated with fruit weight in both bumblebee pollinated, and vibrator treated tomato, but not in PGR treated tomato. Besides enhancing yield, bumblebee pollination improved tomato flavor. Bumblebee pollinated tomato fruits contained more fructose and glucose, but less sucrose, citric acid, and malic acid. Furthermore, the volatile organic compounds of bumblebee pollinated tomato were distinctive with vibrator or PGR treated tomato, and more consumer liking related compounds were identified in bumblebee pollinated tomato. Our findings provide new insights into the contributions of bee pollinator towards improving crop yield and quality, emphasizing the importance of bumblebee for tomato pollination.</jats:p>

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/106638
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/agriculture12060795
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Sustainable Land Management > Centre for Agri-environmental Research (CAER)
Publisher	MDPI
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