Abundance, foraging behaviour and pollination efficiency of major insect pollinators on carrot (Daucus carota L.) seed crop
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Date
2014
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CCSHAU
Abstract
A total of thirty three insect species belonging to sixteen families of six orders were recorded from the carrot
flowers, in which, eleven belong to order Lepidoptera, twelve belongs to Hymenoptera, six belong to Diptera, three
belong to Coleoptera and one belongs to Odonata. Among the insect pollinators, A. florea, A. cerana indica, A. mellifera
and A. dorsata were the most frequent pollinators. At initiation of flowering stage, among different bee species, the
maximum mean population was observed in case of Apis florea (5.33 bees/m2/5 min) followed by A. mellifera (3.83
bees/m2/5 min) and A. dorsata (2.41 bees/m2/5 min), whereas, least abundance was observed in case of A. cerana indica,
i.e., 1.83 bees/m2/5 min. At peak flowering stage, among different bee species, the maximum mean population was
observed in case of Apis florea (5.83 bees/m2/5 min) followed by A. mellifera (4.36 bees/m2/ 5min) and A. dorsata (2.74
bees/m2/5 min), whereas, least abundance was observed in case of A. cerana indica, i.e., 2.21 bees/m2/5 min. At
cessation of flowering, among different bee species the maximum mean population was observed in case of Apis florea
(5.69 bees/m2/5 min) followed by A. mellifera (4.31 bees/m2/5 min) and A. dorsata (2.57 bees/m2/5 min), whereas, the
least abundance was observed in case of A. cerana, i.e., 1.98 bees/m2/5 min. Among different Apis species, A. florea
spent maximum time (4.87 sec/umbelet) followed by A. mellifera (1.90 sec/umbelet) and A. cerana (1.16 sec/umbelet).
Least time per umbelet was recorded in case of A. dorsata i.e. 0.94 sec. Among different bees A. dorsata visited the
highest number of umbelets (19.17 umbelets/min) followed by A. mellifera (15.32 umbelets/min) and A. cerana (10.07
umbelets/min). Apis florea visited the least number of umbelets/min (7.89 umbelets/min). It was observed that A.
mellifera was the most efficient pollinator followed by A. dorsata, A. florea and A. cerana on carrot cv. Hisar Gairic
flowers under agro-ecological conditions of Hisar (Haryana). The yield per plant, yield per m2 area, test weight and
germination percentage in case of open pollination were 11.11 g, 61.38 g, 4.14 g and 80.00% respectively, whereas, in
case of without insect pollination, it was 4.63 g, 25.06 g, 3.17 g and 53.29% and in case of Hand Pollination 8.36 g,
46.29 g, 3.66 g, 66.57% respectively, which is significantly higher in case of open pollination.
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Keywords
Developmental stages, Biological phenomena, Carrots, Crops, Sowing, Grain, Planting, Yields, Byproducts, Topping