The Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has developed a device to accurately control when bees enter and exit hives to boost passion fruit production.
The station on Friday demonstrated the automatic entrance device that regulates the insects’ “clock-in times” in artificial beehives.
Passion fruit grown in screen houses must either be pollinated by bees or by hand, station Director Lo Cheng-tsung (羅正宗) said.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station
The amount of pollen deposited on the stigma of a passion fruit flower determines the size of the fruit, making manual pollination preferable, but the procedure is labor intensive, limiting cultivation, he said.
Traditional bee pollination resolves the scale problem, but bees are not guaranteed to pollinate the flowers at the best times — when the stigma bends down to the anthers during blooming, which lasts for one day — meaning they are unable to maximize the amount of pollen deposited, which results in fruit of irregular size, Lo said.
The station’s automatic entrance device allows bees to “clock in for work” precisely within the optimal pollination time, he said.
It not only improved the consistency of fruit size, but also reduced the ratio of small fruit, he said.
The device helped increase passion fruit production through bee pollination to almost the same level as manual pollination, thereby boosting yield and farmers’ income, the station said.
In other news, the Agriculture and Food Agency on Friday said it has taken stabilization measures to address shrinking garlic bulbs and reduced garlic production in Yunlin County, caused by climate change, pests and diseases.
The agency has sent personnel and agricultural experts to affected production areas to assist farmers in controlling pests and diseases, it said.
Garlic yield per unit area is projected to decline due to this year’s warm winter, but the overall production would be enough to meet domestic demand, it said.
The agency also urged garlic farmers to properly dry freshly harvested garlic and refrain from rushing to market.
Drying centers operated by a garlic-growers’ association in the county would be opened, allowing up to 1,500 tonnes to be dried simultaneously, it said, adding that dried garlic could be stored at room temperature until October.
Regarding whether the government would provide natural disaster relief for farmers, the agency said pest and disease control do not fall within the scope of natural disasters as it is considered related to field management.
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