POLLINATION EFFECTIVENESS OF HONEY-BEES (HYMENOPTERA, APIDAE) IN A KIWIFRUIT ORCHARD

Honey bees, Apis mellifera L., are used to pollinate orchards of kiwif ruit, Actinidia deliciosa (Chevalier), but there is little direct evid ence to support this practice. We measured the pollination effectivene ss of individual foragers and insect foraging activity in an orchard w ith 1 staminate vine for 13 pistillate vines. Honey bees made 98% of t he anthophilous fauna with average densities of 3.18 and 1.19 foragers per 100 staminate and pistillate flowers, respectively. In 68 matched pairs of adjacent flowers, fruit set was 5.9% for flowers exposed to airborne pollen only and 39.7% for flowers that also received 1 honeyb ee visit. Fruits from bee-visited flowers contained 610 +/- SO (+/-SE) seeds, whereas those from control flowers had 110 +/- 50 seeds, demon strating that honey bees are effective pollinators of kiwifruit. The e ffectiveness of honeybee visits was greater on vines surrounding a sta minate plant than on those farther away, and some foraging bees may ha ve released viable pollen which was then carried airborne to adjoining flowers.