2011-06-01 REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE FRUTICULTURA 2011 33(卷), 2(期), (465-471页)
The Acerola or the Caribbean cherry is an important tropical fructiferous tree, which produces all over the year in the semiarid region of Northeastern Brazil if orchards are irrigated. As this culture depends on the pollination by oil-collecting bees to get a good production, the availability of pollinators, the reproductive success and the possibility of pollination deficit of Malpighia emarginata were studied during the dry season in a site of the state of Paraiba. Four species of native Centridini bees were observed and considered efficient pollinators due to their frequency and behavior on flowers: Centris aenea Lepeletier, C. tarsata Smith, C. fuscata Lepeletier and C. trigonoides Lepeletier (Apidae, Centridini). The frequency of visits on flowers within the dry period was lower than in the wet one. Additional experimental hand cross-pollination incremented fruit production by 61 to 74% during dry season. This shows a strong pollination deficit due to the low abundance of Centris bees in this period. This result implies on the necessity to manage the availability and abundance of pollinators to get a higher production, especially in irrigated orchards of acerola during the dry season.