Experiments were carried out to determine which pollination method produces fruits of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) in larger amount and quality. The experiment was installed in a commercial orchard located in the county of Pedra Bela - SP, at an altitude of 1150 meters. The plants were in their own roots with an age of 20 years. The experiment was accomplished in two periods, the first began in November 1999 and concluded in June 2000; the second began in November of 2000 and was concluded in June 2001. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with 3 treatments and 12 replicates. The treatments were the following ones: 1) natural pollination; 2) hand pollination (with mixture of pollen from different plants); 3) self-pollination (sacked flowers). The plants in the blocks were pollinated in different days. The evaluation of fruit set happened 10 days after the pollination and the amount of fruits with perfect or defective shape after 40 days. After harvest, the fruits were individually weighed. two fruit in 1999 and three fruit in 2000 of each treatment were taken, for the following determinations: seed and pulp weigh, number of seeds per 100 g of pulp. Hand pollination of cherimoya provided a larger fruit set (61.2% and 50.4%) in relation to natural pollination (19.6% and 3.3%) in the years of 1999 and 2000, respectively. It was more effective when accomplished under temperature conditions varying from 17 ºC to 22 ºC and relative air humidity among 70 and 80%. It was also verified an increase on the percentage of perfect fruits (in 2000), mass of the fruit and on the index of seeds/100 g of pulp of the fruits pollinated artificially in relation to the naturally pollinated.
Annona cherimola Mill.; hand pollination; natural pollination; fruit quality
