Pollination on sweet passion fruit flowers (Passiflora alata DRYANDER)

Abstract

This experiment was carried out in Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo, Brazil), aiming at studying the frequency and type of gathering (whether pollen or nectar) by insects on flowers of sweet passion fruit (Passiflora alata Dryander). The daily frequency and type of gathering were obtained by counting the insects, ten minutes in each hour, from the sunrise to the sunset, with five replicates.  It was observed that the flowers started to open at 6:00 a.m. and closed at  5:00 p.m. The insects observed were  Centris  sp. (75.69%), Trigona spinipes (20.14%) and Apis mellifera (4.17%). Centris sp. visited the flowers from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., being more frequent during the morning, to gather only nectar.  Trigona visited the flowers from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to collect both nectar and pollen, showing preference for nectar gathering during the morning.  A. mellifera only collected pollen, from 6:00 a.m.  to 10:00 p.m., with frequency peak at 9:00 a.m.