Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T06:46:35.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barros, L. M. (1988). Biologia floral, colheita e rendimento. In A Cultura do Cajueiro no Nordesle do Brasil (Ed. Lima, V. P. M. S.), pp. 301–319. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A.Google Scholar
Barros, L. M., Almeida, J. I. L. & Araújo, F. E. (1986). O cajueiro anão: uma alternativa para pequeno e médio produtores. In Resumos do Seminário de Tecnologia Agropecuaria inovadora para o Nordeste, pp. 214–216. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A.Google Scholar
Bentley, B. L. (1976). Plants bearing extrafloral nectaries and the associated ant community: interhabit differences in the reduction of herbivore damage. Ecology 57, 815–820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentley, B. L. (1977). The protective function of ants visiting the extrafloral nectaries of Bixa orellana (Bixaceae). Journal of Ecology 65, 27–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigger, M. (1960). Selenoihrips rubrocincius (Giard) and the floral biology of cashew in Tanganyika. The East African Agricultural Journal 25, 229–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damodaran, V. K. (1976). Hybrid vigour in cashew (Anacardiwn occidentale L.). Agricultural Research Journal of Kerala 13 (2), 195–196.Google Scholar
Damodaran, V. K. (1979). Agro-technology for increased cashew nut production. Indian Farming 28 (12), 29–31.Google Scholar
Damodaran, V. K.., Abraham, J. & Alexander, K. M. (1966). The morphology and biology of the cashew flower. II. Anthesis, dehiscence, receptivity of stigma, pollination, fruit-set and fruit-development. Agricultural Research Journal of Kerala 4 (2), 78–84.Google Scholar
Damodaran, V. K.., Vilasachan, Y. & Valsalakumari, P. K. (1979). Research on cashew in India. In Technical Bulletin, pp. 10–35. India: Kerala Agricultural University.Google Scholar
Dantas De Araujo, C. Z. (1994). The biological interactions between ants and cashew-tree. In Proceedings of the 12th Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (Eds Lenoir, A., Arnold, G. & Lepage, M.), p. 176. Paris, France: Université Paris Nord.Google Scholar
Embrapa-Cnpca (1990). Infra-estrutura. In Relatório Técnico Anual do Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Caju 1987–1988, pp. 19–21. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: EMBRAPA.Google Scholar
Embrapa-Cnpca (1993). Segregação fenotipica no cajueiro-anão-precoce: impliçacões agroeconômicas. In Relatório Técnico Anual do Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Caju 1991–1992, pp. 18–23. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: EMBRAPA.Google Scholar
Faegri, K. & van Der Pijl, L. (1979). The Principles of Pollination Ecology. 3rd edn. London: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
França, F. M. C. (1988). Produção, comercialização e mercado. In A Cultura do Cajueiro no Nordeste do Brasil (Ed. Lima, V. P. M. S.), pp. 403–452. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A.Google Scholar
Free, J. B. (1993). Insect Pollination of Crops. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Free, J. B. & Williams, I. H. (1976). Insect pollination of Anacardium occidentale L., Mangifera indica L., Blighia sapida Koenig and Persea americana Mill. Tropical Agriculture (Trinidad) 53, 125–139.Google Scholar
Freitas, B. M. (1994). Beekeeping and cashew in northeastern Brazil: the balance of honey and nut production. Bee World 75, 160–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haarer, A. E. (1954). The cashew nut. World Crops 6, 95–96, 98.Google Scholar
Heard, T. A., Vithanage, V. & Chacko, E. K. (1990). Pollination biology of cashew in the Northern Territory of Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 41, 1101–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D. V. (1973). The botany, origin and spread of the cashew Anacardium occidentale L. Journal of Plantation Crops 1, 1–7.Google Scholar
Khoo, K. C., Ibrahim, Y., Maelzer, D. A. & Lim, T. K. (1982). Entomofauna of cashew in West Malaysia. In Proceedings of the International Conference in Plant Protection in Tropics 1982, pp. 289–298. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Google Scholar
Lima, V. P. M. S. (1988). Origem e distribuição geográfica. In A Cultura do Cajueiro no Nordeste do Brasil (Ed. Lima, V. P. M. S.), pp. 1–13. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil: Banco do Nordeste do Brasil S.A.Google Scholar
Madhava Rao, V. N. & Hassan, V. M. (1957). Preliminary studies on the floral biology of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.). The Indian Journal of Agricultural Science 27, 277–288.Google Scholar
Morton, J. F. (1961). The cashew's brighter future. Economic Botany 15, 57–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mota, M. (1982). O Cajueiro Nordestino, 3 ed. (Col. Recife, 29). Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil: Fundação de Cultura Cidade do Recife.Google Scholar
Murthy, K. N., Kumaran, P. M. & Nayar, N. M. (1975). Increasing fruit set in cashew by hormone spraying. Journal of Plantation Crops 3, 81–82.Google Scholar
Nambiar, M. C. & Haridasan, M. (1979). Fertilizing cashew for higher yields. Indian Farming 28 (1), 16–17.Google Scholar
Northwood, P. J. (1966). Some observations on flowering and fruit-setting in the cashew Anacardium occidentale L. Tropical Agriculture, (Trinidad) 43, 35–42.Google Scholar
Reddi, E. U. B. (1987). Under-pollination: a major constraint of cashewnut production. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy B 53, 249–252.Google Scholar
Reddi, E. U. B. (1991). Pollinating agent of cashew – wind or insects? Indian Cashew Journal 20, 13–18.Google Scholar
Thimmaraju, K. R. & Lakshmi Roju, D. (1993). Pollinator limited fruit set in cashew (Anacardium occidentale L). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pollination in the Tropic, p.43. Bangalore, India.Google Scholar
Thimmaraju, K. R., Narayana Reddy, M. A., Suryanarayana Reddy, B. G. & Sulladmath, U. V. (1980). Studies on the floral biology of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) Mysore Journal of Agricultural Sciences 14, 490–497.Google Scholar
Veena, T. & Ganeshaiah, K. N. (1991). Non-random pattern of ants foraging on honeydew of aphids on cashew inflorescences. Animal Behaviour 41, 7–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar