The Diversity of Insect Visitors on Indonesian Salacca (Salacca Spp.) in Mekarsari Fruits Garden, Bogor, Indonesia

Abstract

Salacca (Salacca spp.) is a dioecious plant with male and female flowers existing on a different plant, therefore requires agents of pollination. More than thirty cultivars of salacca are found in Indonesia. This research aimed to study the diversity of visiting insects on the three varieties of salacca, i.e., Pondoh, Mawar and Kalimantan in Indonesia, as well measuring the pollen load on the pollinators. The visiting insects were observed on the male flowers using the fix sample method in ten minutes for fifteen days. Results showed that nine insect species visited the flowers and three species were potential pollinators, i.e., Nodocnemis sp., Apis cerana and Tetragonula laeviceps. The highest diversity of visiting insects was found in Kalimantan salacca (H' = 1.31, E = 0.74) followed by Pondoh salacca (H' = 0.72, E = 0.23) and Mawar salacca (H' = 0.51, E = 0.19). There was no dominant species found in Kalimantan salacca. The high similarity of visiting insects was found in Pondoh-Mawar salacca (SN = 0.59). Furthermore, the pollen load on Nodocnemis sp., A. cerana and T. laeviceps were about 127, 7893, and 4228 pollen grains, respectively.