The experiment was carried out at Jableh region during 2012-2013 in two green
houses to study the effects of using the bumble bees and organic carbon to improve flower
set and yield of tomato hybrid Dalloula . The experiment included three treatmen
ts :
natural pollination (control) ,flowers pollination by organic carbon, and flowers pollination
by bumble bees . The first and second treatments were applied in the first green house , and
the third treatment was applied in the second green house . Results showed that the bumble
bees treatment produced significantly the highest percentage of flower set and yield than
the other treatments . Flower set of tomato over 10 clusters was 89.8% , 83.7% , 39.2% for
bumble bees treatment, organic carbon treatment, and control , respectively. The highest
yield (22 kg/m2)was obtained from bumble bees treatment . Flowers pollinated by bumble
bees gave fruits that looked better in shape , size and color ,and with higher weights . In
the bumble bee pollinated flowers , the quality of fruits was superior for vitamin C , sugar
and acidity .
This study was performed in the Research Laboratory of bees at the Faculty
of Agriculture, University of Damascus, Samples were collected from the
coastal region of Syria (Lattakia and Tartus), during the year 2009-2010, The
work aimed to conduct morphological characterization of bumblebees Bombus
terrestris (L.) in Syria, through some measurements to determine the
distribution (of this type of bees in the Syrian) regions.
