Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, Vol 86, No 2 (2021)

Enhancing Flower-Visiting Insects by Planting of Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) in the Ecosystem of Coffee

Supriyadi SUPRIYADI, Rento WIJAYANTI, Retna Bandriyati ARNIPUTRI, Ria AYUDYA

Pages: 125-130

Summary


The production of coffee fruit set depends on cross-pollination, but a few studies have examined the role of insect pollinators in the coffee ecosystem in Indonesia. The relationships between the planting of a flowering plant, sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) in the coffee ecosystem and flower-visiting insects were examined in this study. The study was carried out by planting C. juncea in the coffee plantation to record the diversity and abundance of flower-visiting insects and their effects on the fruit set of coffee. The insects were recorded weekly on flower panicles/clustered flowers, during the flowering period. The influence of wild pollinators was assessed by comparing the number of fruit sets of coffee in open pollination and wind pollination by bagging the flower panicle using nylon mesh gauze one week before the petals opened until all petals had dried and/or fallen off. The results showed that the diversity of flower-visiting insects increased during the flowering period, both on coffee and C. juncea. Belonging to two orders, 10 families, and 12 genera, the insects were actually observed by watching their feeding behaviors at flowers. The abundance of flower- visiting insects was 2.5-fold higher in the coffee ecosystem with C. juncea than in the control plot. The abundance was also influenced by the distance of C. juncea from the coffee. The average percentages of fruit set of coffee by open pollination were 58.83% in the coffee plot with C. juncea and 55.53% in the control plot. These values were higher than observed by wind pollination, in which the average percentages were only 32.01% and 21% in the coffee plot with C. juncea and in the control plot, respectively.


Keywords


flowering plant, insect pollinator, coffee fruit set

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