THE ROLE OF BORDER PLANTS PRESENCE ON THE ACTIVITY OF POLLINATING INSECT IN OKRA (ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS L. MOENCH) PLANTS

• Main Author: Febriyanti Humaera, Salma
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/50632
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is one of the horticultural fruit crops that is widely cultivated across the globe. However, in Indonesia, okra is not widely known because there were not many farmers that provide the supply. On the other side, the demand for diversification of plant-based food continues to increase along with increasing public awareness of the benefits of consuming plant-based food. Planting okra with border plants is expected to overcome pest problems and invite more pollinating insects thus increase the productivity of okra as the main commodity. The purpose of this study is to identify species of the pollinating insect that visited okra flowers and to determine its activity which includes: visitation rate (VR) and flower handling time (FHT); also to determine the fruit quality which includes: length, diameter, and weight of okra that harvested from the system of cultivation with border plants (BP) and without border plants (NBP). From this study, it can be concluded that the pollinating insect species that visit okra flower in both cultivation systems is stingless bees Trigona laeviceps, while other species of pollinating insects preferred to visit Sulfur Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus) flower in border plants in BP cultivation system. VR of T. laeviceps in okra flower of both BP and NBP cultivation systems are 100% with intensity of 0.0867 times per flower per 5 minutes and 0.06 times, respectively. FHT value of T. laeviceps in okra flower of BP and NBP system respectively is 2.55 s and 1.64 s per individual per flower per 5 minutes. The length, diameter, and weight of the okra fruit from BP and NBP system respectively is 12.852 cm, 12.258 cm, 14.924 mm, 16.701 mm, 22.777 gr, and 21.388 gr. Further research of density of border plants, also combinations of main commodity and certain types of border plants remain potential to be studied.