Pollination of Enclosed Avocado Trees by Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and a Hover Fly (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Despite flies regularly visiting flowers, limited research has gone into their pollination ability on commercial crops. A national project in Australia aimed to identify fly species as potential managed pollinators for the horticultural industry and, in particular, avocado. This study investigated the ability of two calliphorids (Calliphora dubia and Calliphora vicina) and a syrphid (Eristalis tenax) fly species to pollinate Hass avocados in southwestern Australia. Four (4) field trials over three (3) years showed that each fly species (all found across Australia) was capable of pollinating Hass avocados when released into netted enclosures around multiple trees (12-26) during flowering. Trees enclosed with Eristalis tenax produced the highest fruit yield (18.0 kg/tree) outperforming trees pollinated by either C. dubia (11.6), managed honey bees in the open orchard (10.5) or C. vicina (6.8). Increasing fly numbers from 10,000 to 15,000 in the enclosures provided no additional pollination benefit. These results suggest that either E. tenax or C. dubia could be valuable managed pollinators for the avocado industry either with or without honey bees. Calliphora dubia was a significant pollinator during warmer flowering seasons and C. vicina was a useful pollinator during cold and wet flowering seasons.