It Is Not All About Being Sweet: Differences in Floral Traits and Insect Visitation among Hybrid Carrot Cultivars.

ABSTRACT: Cytoplasmically male-sterile (CMS) carrot cultivars suffer from low pollination rates. In this study, insect visitation varied more than eightfold between 17 CMS carrot cultivars in a field-based cultivar evaluation trial. The visitation rates of honey bees, nectar scarabs, muscoid flies, and wasps each significantly differed among these cultivars. No significant difference in visitation rates was observed among cultivars of different CMS type (brown-anther or petaloid) or flower colour, but cultivars of Berlicumer root type had significantly higher insect visitation rates than Nantes. Six cultivars were further compared in regard to selected umbel traits: as umbel diameter increased, so did the visitation of soldier beetles, while that of honey bees decreased. Finally, nectar of these six

SUBMITTER: Gaffney A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7412318 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature