THE POTENTIAL OF LOCAL INSECTS AND INTRODUCTION OF STINGLESS BEE TETRAGONULA LAEVICEPS AS INSECT POLLINATOR OF CHAYOTE (SECHIUM EDULE (JACQ.) SWARTZ)

• Main Author: Dzaky Alfawwaz, Muhammad
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Ilmu hayati ; Biologi
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/58008
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia has experienced a decrease in chayote (Sechium edule (Jacq.) Swartz) yields in the last 4 years (2016-2020) by 15.30%. One of the biological processes that can have a direct impact on fruit plant productivity is pollination. The presence of pollinating agents, one of which is insects influence the pollination process strongly. This research aims to determine the pollination ecology of chayote and whether there is a shortage of pollinating agents at the cultivation site. This research was conducted in the chayote garden of local farmers in Desa Borogojol, Kec. Lemahsugih, Kab. Majalengka, Prov. Jawa Barat from November 2020 to April 2021. Insect pollinators were observed in 3 time periods, morning, afternoon, and evening with the scan sampling method. Insect behavior on flowers, visitation rate, and handling time was observed using the focal sampling method. The role of local insects in the pollination process was observed by dividing all flowers into 4 groups of female flowers, open pollination (OP), open + stingless bee pollination (OSP), hand cross-pollination (HCP), and hand self-pollination. (HSP). Meanwhile, male flowers were divided into 2 groups, open visitation (OV), and open + stingless bee visitation (OSV). Determination of the importance of insects as pollinating agents was decided by calculating the pollen load using a hemocytometer and the value of pollinator importance. The pollination effectiveness was decided by measuring fruit quality on fruit set, fruit diameter, fruit weight, and total dissolved sucrose parameters. The research results were that there were 299 individual insects from 8 species of local insects pollinator. The insect pollinator community had moderate diversity (1.53), unstable community (0.69), and moderate dominance (0.51) by Apis cerana, which was the foremost chayote insect pollinator. OP and OSP treatments had higher fruit quality parameter values than HP and HSP treatments. This research concluded that local insects had the potential to become insect pollinators of chayote, and the introduction of stingless bees Tetragonula laeviceps could increase fruit sets by 9.34% and chayote yield by 7.25%.