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The role of wind and insects in cashew (Anacardium occidentale) pollination in NE Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

B. M. Freitas  and
R. J. Paxton
B. M. Freitas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zootecnia-CCA, Universidade Federal do Ceara, CP 12168, Campus do Pici, CEP 60355–970, Fortaleza-CE, Brazil
R. J. Paxton
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Uppsala University, Box 7003, S-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
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Summary

The pollination requirements of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.), an andromonoecious tree, were studied in NE Brazil, where cashew is indigenous. It was shown through the use of bagging and caging experiments, controlled hand-pollination and emasculation of flowers, that the wind plays little role in cashew pollination and that cashew is self-fertile, although only pollen from the large stamen, either male or hermaphrodite-derived, can effect pollination. Insects appear to be the major pollinators of cashew, in agreement with the pollination syndrome suggested by the morphology of its flowers. Direct observations of insects visiting flowers and counts of pollen grains adhering to such insects suggest that the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.), although a non-native insect, is the major pollinator of commercially grown cashew in NE Brazil.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 126 , Issue 3 , May 1996 , pp. 319 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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