Wild and managed pollinators are the key component of biodiversity, contributing to important ecosystem services such as pollination and supporting human food security. Pollination by insects is a crucial component of the food chain that ensures the production of fruits and strongly affects the fruit quality, but the effect of insect pollination on fruit physiological and chemical parameters is largely unknown. The current study was conducted to determine the insect pollinators diversity and their relative abundance in the loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) orchard during 2017-2019. Further, the effect of insect pollinators pollination on the physiological and chemical parameters of fruit quality as compared to control pollinated flowers was investigated. The results revealed that a total of 22 species from 3 families (Apidae, Halictidae, and Syrphidae) were identified during the flowering season. The Apidae and Syrphidae were the most frequently observed families with major groups honey bees (67.89%) and hoverflies (21.57%), respectively. Moreover, results indicated that the fruit yield by the open-pollinated flowers (22.31 ± 0.34 kg/tree) was significantly higher than the control pollinated flowers (14.80 ± 0.25 kg/tree). Physiological and chemical parameters of loquat fruit differed significantly when fruits obtained from open-pollinated flowers as compared to control pollinated flowers. These results suggested that native insect pollinators play important role in the fruit quality of loquat. Hence, maintenance of appropriate habitat of native pollinators near loquat orchards is necessary to ensure good productivity and fruit quality.

Biology Department Faculty of Science King Khalid University P O Box 9004 Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia

Biology Department Faculty of Sciences and Arts King Khalid University Dhahran Al Janoub Saudi Arabia

Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences Melbourne Burwood Campus Deakin University Australia

Department of Agronomy Faculty of Crop and Food Sciences Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi 46000 Pakistan

Department of Botany and Plant Physiology Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamycka 129 165 00 Prague Czechia

Department of Entomology Faculty of Crop and Food Sciences Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi 46000 Pakistan

Institute of Apicultural Research Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology Ministry of Agriculture Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing 100093 China

Research Centre for Advance Material Science King Khalid University P O Box 9004 Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia

Unit of Bee Research and Honey Production Faculty of Science King Khalid University P O Box 9004 Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia

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