Gears: Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crop Plants Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crop Plants by S.E
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gears: Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants by S.E. McGregor, USDA Originally published 1976 The First and Only Virtual Beekeeping Book Updated Continously. Additions listed by crop and date. Introduction: Economics of Plant Pollination Flowering and Fruiting of Plants Hybrid Vigor in Plants and its Relationship to Insect Pollination Wild Bees and Wild Bee Culture Wild Flowers and Crop Pollination Pesticides in Relation to Beekeeping and Crop Pollination Pollination Agreements and Services Alphabetical Listing of Crops Dependent upon or Benefited by Insect Pollination Acerola Chapter 1: Alfafa Chapter 2: Almonds Chapter 3: Clover & CHAPTER CONTENTS Relatives ● Alsike Clover ● Persian Clover ● Arrowleaf Clover ● Red Clover ● Ball Clover ● Rose Clover ● Berseem Clover ● Strawberry Clover ● Black Medic/Yellow Trefoil ● Subterranean ● Cider Milkvetch Clover ● Clovers, General ● Sweet Clover ● Crimson Clover ● Sweet Vetch ● Crownvetch ● Trefoil ● Lespedeza ● Vetch ● Peanut ● White Clover ● Zigzag Clover file:///E|/Jason/book/index.html (1 of 4) [1/21/2009 3:45:07 PM] gears: Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants Chapter 4: Legumes Chapter Contents & Relatives ● Beans ● Lubines ● Broad Beans and Field Beans ● Mung Bean, Green or Golden ● Cowpea Gram ● Kidneyvetch ● Pigeonpea ● Kudzu ● Sainfoin ● Lima Beans ● Scarlet Runner Bean ● Soybean Chapter 5: Tree Chapter Contents Fruits & Nuts & Exotic Fruits & ● Apple ● Macadamia Nuts ● Apricot ● Mango ● Avocado ● Mangosteen ● Cacao ● Neem ● Cashew ● Oil Palm ● Cherry ● Olive ● Chestnut ● Papaw ● Citrus ● Papaya ● Coconut ● Passionfruit ● Crabapple ● Peach and Nectarine ● Durian ● Pear ● Date ● Persimmon ● Fig ● Plum and Prune ● Litchi ● Pomegranate ● Quince ● Rambutan file:///E|/Jason/book/index.html (2 of 4) [1/21/2009 3:45:07 PM] gears: Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants Chapter 6: Common Chapter Contents Vegetables for Seed ● Artichoke and Cardoon ● Leek & Fruit ● Asparagus ● Lettuce ● Balsam Pear ● Muskmelon ● Beet ● Okra ● Broccoli ● Onion ● Brussels Sprouts ● Parsnip ● Carrot ● Pepper, Green ● Cauliflower ● Pumpkin and Squash ● Celeriac ● Radish ● Celery ● Tomato ● Chayote ● Turnip and Rutabaga ● Chicory ● Vegetable Sponge ● Chive ● Watermelon and Cirton ● Cole Crops ● Welsh, or Spring Onion ● Coriander ● White Flowered Gourd ● Cucumber and Gherkins ● White Gourd ● Eggplant ● Endive Chapter 7: Small Chapter Contents Fruits & Brambles ● Blackberry ● Huckleberry ● Blueberry ● Jujube, Tsao, or Chinese Date ● Chinese Gooseberry ● Kenaf ● Coffee ● Kiwi ● Cranberry ● Kolanut ● Currant ● Loquat ● Gooseberry ● Raspberry ● Grapes, Raisins and Currents ● Strawberry ● Guava file:///E|/Jason/book/index.html (3 of 4) [1/21/2009 3:45:07 PM] gears: Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants Chapter 8: Misc. Chapter Contents Garden Plants, ● Chervil Foods, ● Dill Flowers ● Drug Plants & Herbs ● Fennel ● Herbs ● Lavender ● Parsley Chapter 9: Crop Chapter Contents Plants and Exotic ● Anise ● Niger Plants ● Black Pepper, White Pepper ● Nutmeg and Mace ● Buckwheat ● Pimento or Allspice ● Carambola ● Pyrethrum ● Caraway ● Rape ● Cardamon ● Safflower ● Cardoon ● Sesame ● Cherimoya ● Sisal and Henequen ● Clove ● Sunflower ● Cotton ● Tea ● Crotalaria ● Tephrosia ● Feijoa ● Tung ● Flax ● Vanilla ● Mamey Sapote ● Vernonia ● Mustard ● White Sapote file:///E|/Jason/book/index.html (4 of 4) [1/21/2009 3:45:07 PM] file:///E|/Jason/book/econ.html INSECT POLLINATION OF CULTIVATED CROP PLANTS By S. E. McGREGOR Apiculturist, retired, Agricultural Research Service Western Region, Tucson, Ariz. ECONOMICS OF PLANT POLLINATION Worldwide, more than 3,000 plant species have been used as food, only 300 of which are now widely grown, and only 12 of which furnish nearly 90 percent of the world's food. These 12 include the grains: rice, wheat, maize (corn), sorghums, millets, rye, and barley, and potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassavas or maniocs, bananas, and coconuts (Thurston 1969).1 The grains are wind-pollinated or self-pollinated, coconuts are partially wind-pollinated and partially insect pollinated, and the others are propagated asexually or develop parthenocarpically. However, more than two-thirds of the world's population is in Southeast Asia where the staple diet is rice. Superficially, it appears that insect-pollination has little effect on the world's food supply - possibly no more than 1 percent. Within the United States, which accounts for only about 6 percent of the world's population, about 286 million acres were cultivated in 1969. About 180 million acres were devoted to the wind pollinated or self- pollinated crops, primarily barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghums and wheat, grass hay crops, sugar beets, sugar cane, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. About 60 million acres were devoted to crops that may receive some benefit from insect pollination but are largely self-pollinating (beans, cotton, flax, peanuts, peas, and soybeans). About 40 million acres were devoted to hay crops produced from bee-pollinated seeds (alfalfa, clovers, lespedezas). About 6 million acres were devoted to producing fruits, vegetables, and nuts--most of which are dependent upon insect pollination. Table 1 lists the cultivated crop plants, discussed herein, that are dependent upon or benefited by insect pollination. These plants provide about 15 percent of our diet. The animal products we consume contribute about an equal amount to our diet. These include beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and dairy products--derived one way or another from insect-pollinated legumes such as alfalfa, clover, lespedeza, and trefoil. More than half of the world's diet of fats and oils comes from oilseeds--coconuts, cotton, oil palm, olives, peanuts, rape, soybeans, and sunflower (Guidry 1964). Many of these plants are dependent upon or benefited by insect pollination. When these sources, the animal and plant products, are considered, it appears that perhaps one-third of our total diet is dependent, directly or indirectly, upon insect-pollinated plants. file:///E|/Jason/book/econ.html (1 of 9) [1/21/2009 3:45:10 PM] file:///E|/Jason/book/econ.html In addition, the insect-pollinated legumes have the ability to collect nitrogen from the air, store it in the roots, and ultimately leave it to enrich the soil for other plants. Without this beneficial effect, soils not fertilized by processed minerals would soon be depleted and become economically unproductive. Another value of pollination lies in its effect on quality and efficiency of crop production. Inadequate pollination can result not only in reduced yields but also in delayed yield and a high percentage of culls or inferior fruits. In this connection, Gates (1917) warned the grower that, "he may fertilize, and cultivate the soil, prune, thin and spray the trees, in a word, he may do all of those things which modern practice advocates, yet without his pollinating agents, chief among which are the honey bees, to transfer the pollen from the stamens to the pistil of the blooms, his crop may fail." With ample pollination, the grower may also be able to set his blooms before frost can damage them, set his crop before insects attack, and harvest ahead of inclement weather. Earliness of set is an often overlooked but important phase in the crop economy. The value of pollination on the succeeding generation of crops is also frequently overlooked. The value of hybrid seed is not reflected until the subsequent generation. Vigor of sprouting and emerging from the soil is often a vital factor in the plant's early survival. Other responses to hybrid vigor include earliness of development, plant health,and greater production of fruit or seed. __________ 1 The year in italic after the author's name refers to Literature Cited at the end of each major section. Signs of Inadequate Pollination There are numerous ways a grower, with little or no intimate knowledge of the life and habits of pollinating insects, can measure the effictiveness of the polllination of his crop. He would be wise to determine these ways in connection with the particular [page 2, 3, 4] compact clusters of fruits or seeds, and uniform set. For example, adequate pollination is indicated by two or more muskmelons near the crown or base of the vine, or a majority of the apples developing from the king, or primary flower, at the tip of the cluster. In a watermelon field, adequate pollination would be indicated by a high percentage of melons in the number 1 class, that is, symmetrical, completely developed throughout, and of satisfactory weight. Ecological Relationships The value of insect pollination, the only type of pollination upon which man can exert much influence, is not limited to the cultivated crops. Bohart (1952*)2 pointed out that the most drastic effect of the absence of pollinating insects would be in uncultivated areas, where, as a result, most soil-holding and soil- enriching plants would die out. He also mentioned that springtime would be bleak indeed without the usual gay flowers. file:///E|/Jason/book/econ.html (2 of 9) [1/21/2009 3:45:10 PM] file:///E|/Jason/book/econ.html Baker and Hurd (1968) also recognized this important ecological relationship, for they stated that "insect pollination is still extremely important among the fortes of the grasslands, in the shrub and herb layer of the temperate forest and in the desert. It remains undiminished in the tropics." A simultaneous warning of disaster was recently issued because of our disregard of the importance of pollination.