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Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi

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Subject: Agricultural Entomology × Author: Khamhari, Deepti × Start date: 2013 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    ROLE OF HONEY BEE POLLINATION IN NIGER WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO Apis mellifera
    (Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 2013) Khamhari, Deepti; Kumar, Binay
    The honey bees play an important role in pollination of many field crops, vegetables, fruits and fodder crops. Keeping this in view a field experiment entitled “Role of honeybee pollination in niger with special reference to Apis mellifera” was carried out in the Apiary of Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand. The experiment was planned with seven treatments in aRandomized Block Design with three replications. The treatments were: Open pollination with Mahua flower extract(5%) spray, Open pollination with sugarcane juice (10%) spray, Open pollination with sugar syrup (10%) spray, Open pollination with jaggery solution (10%) spray, Open pollination with molasses (10%) spray, Open pollination with water spray and Open pollination without any spray. In addition, another experiment was conducted in split plot designwith two varieties of niger i.e. Birsa Niger-1 and Birsa Niger-2 and three modes of pollination PE (Pollinator exclusion), BP (Bee pollination), OP (Open pollination). A total of 13 insect species belonging to nine families under three orders viz., Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera visited the niger flowers. Honeybees were observed to be the foremost pollinator fauna visiting the niger flowers under agro-ecological condition of Kanke. Among different honeybee species, A. mellifera constituted 41.38 per cent of the total pollinators recorded and surpassed rest of the pollinators. Hence, it was considered to be the key pollinator. The average working duration recorded for A.mellifera was 8.30 to 8.45 hours per day while it was 8.45 to 9.30 hours for A.cerana. Among different honeybee species, A.mellifera visited the crop in higher frequencies (47.07 %) followed by A.cerana (40.50 %), Trigona sp. (7.99%) and A.dorsata (4.44 %).Maximum bee visitation (7.45 bees/m2/minute) was recorded during 1000h to 1200h, while the minimum (4.5 bees/m2/minute) was observed during 1600-1800h (4.50 bees/m2/5min).The mean foraging rate varied from 6.84 to 12.13 flowers per minute. Among different bee species, A.mellifera visited significantly more numbers of flowers (10.28 flowers/minute) followed by A.cerana (9.13 flowers/minute). Maximum foraging rate of 12.13 flowers/ minute was observed at 1200h to 1400h, while the minimum foraging rate (6.84 flowers/minute) was observed at 1600h to 1800h. The mean foraging speed, irrespective of species and types of foraging, varied from 5.62 to 6.85 seconds per flower at different day hours. Maximum foraging speed was recorded at 8.00 to 10.00 hours. The mean time spent per flower by an A.mellifera bee was 6.23 seconds for nectar gatherer while it was 5.47 seconds for pollen gatherer. However, A.cerana forager spent more time (7.08 and 6.25 sec) for nectar and pollen collection than A.mellifera forager. Use of various bee attractants recorded an increase of 3.73 to 42.55 per cent over water spray and 13.34 to 39.09 per cent over the treatment which did not receive any spray (control). Significantly higher seed yield was obtained with sugar syrup (10%) and Mahua (Madhuca sp.) flower (5%) extract. Germination was also found to be more in treatment Mahua flower (5%) extract which recorded an increase of 6.28 and 7.23 percent more over open pollination with water spray and open pollination without any spray, respectively. Similar trend in results as regards to yield was recorded for both the varieties of niger where bee pollination and open pollination had produced47.15 and 65.94 per cent more seed yield over pollinator exclusion, respectively. The results on thousand seed weight indicated that there was increase of 5.32 and 3.87 per cent more in open pollination and bee pollination, respectively over pollinator exclusion. Highest germination was noticed in the seeds obtained from open pollinated plots followed by bee pollinated plants. It was also recorded that there was an increase of 23.76 and 16.04 per cent in germination in open and bee pollination over pollinator exclusion, respectively.