Interaction between pollinators and crop plants: The Israeli experience

Abstract

Most of the cultivated crops depend on animal pollination. Honeybees remain the most economically valuable pollinators of crops worldwide. The current review describes the research developments in crop pollination and crop-pollinator interactions in Israel in the last four decades. The review primarily discusses the honeybee as a pollinator but also refers to bumblebees, wasps, flies, and beetles. The interactions between these pollinators and a variety of crops (i.e., sweet pepper, tomato, watermelon, melon, cucumber, squash, apple, pear, apricot, sweet cherry, almond, Japanese plum, anona, citrus, fig, strawberry, cotton, sunflower, lychee, mango, alfalfa, avocado, and yellow pitaya) are discussed.

Keywords:

• pollination
• honeybee
• agriculture
• compatibility