ABSTRACT A study on the mutualism between Solanum aethiopicum and an undescribed bee species belonging to the genus Xylocopa was carried out in Meskine (Soudano-Sahelian agroecological zone, Cameroon) during the dry season. Throughout two consecutive years (2019 and 2020), experiments were conducted on 540 tagged flowers that were categorized into four different treatments each year: 120 flowers unprotected, 120 flowers protected from insects using gauze bags, 200 flowers bagged to prevent visits from insects and later opened to single visits of Xylocopa sp. and 100 flowers bagged to prevent any insect visits, then opened and re-bagged to avoid further visits on the flowers. The results revealed that among 19 anthophilous insect species, Xylocopa sp. was the most frequent. These bees exclusively and intensively collected the pollen from eggplant flowers during the day. The mean duration of Xylocopa sp. visit per flower was 32.32 seconds and the mean foraging speed was 4.69 flowers per minute. The mean number of this bee on S. aethiopicum was 362.04 per 1000 flowers. Xylocopa sp. significantly increase fruiting rate by 82.99% and the percentage of normal seeds by 7.40%. To ensure the eggplant field’s long-term viability in Maroua, conservation and installation of Xylocopa sp. is recommended.
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