Diversity of bees in tomato production and the effect of borders plants as an attractant for these insects

Abstract

The tomato flower can be pollinated by wind or manually, using air blowers in the case of a
greenhouse, but when the bees provide this service, they increase the pollination, enhancing
the quality of fruit. The objective of this work was to conduct a survey of bees visiting tomato
flowers and evaluate the effect of border plants (Raphanus sativus var. oleiferus L. used as
green manure, spontaneous plants and fruit trees) to increase attraction to tomato plants. The
study was conducted in Federal District on two farms in agrocecological transition. The collections
were carried out in the years of 2015 and 2016, during the months of July to October.
In 52.75 sampling hours a total of 834 individuals were collected, divided into 14 species. The
most abundant species were Paratrigona lineata, Apis mellifera, Trigona spinipes, Exomalopsis
sp. and Bombus sp. The border plants did not have an effect on the richness of bees visiting
tomato flowers, but they influenced in the abundance of these organisms. Removing the border
plant of R. sativus var. oleiferus L. decreased the abundance of collected bees from 26 to 6
individuals, even when the tomato plant was in full inflorescence.