2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of artificial pollination system using air vibration

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23658201
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Agricultural environmental engineering
Research Institution	Kyoto University
Principal Investigator	SHIMIZU Hiroshi 京都大学, 大学院・農学研究科, 教授 (50206207)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	受粉 / 空気振動 / 野菜
Research Abstract	A fundamental knowledge on an artificial pollination using air vibration as an alternative technology of bees pollination was obtained in this research. A natural frequency of a floral organ for four tomato and two strawberry varieties were experimentally evaluated. And then a speaker generated an air vibration of the natural frequencies for floral organs of tomato and strawberry. The pollination conditions were observed by a microscope, and rate of fruit-setting was measured after the pollination using the air vibration. As a result, it became clear that the new pollination method using the air vibration is sufficiently possible although the rate of fruit-setting was lower than the conventional bees pollination method.

(2 results)