Bhat, N. S.VIJAYA KUMAR, K. T.2017-07-122017-07-122010-06-10Th-9624http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810025113Experiment was conducted at NSP, GKVK, Bangalore to study on pollination with special reference to the role of honeybees in hybrid seed production of cotton PKVH5. Cotton flowers were visited by fourteen species of insect pollinators on both CMS and R line of cotton, all of them belong to order hymenoptera. The mean relative abundance of honeybees (A. cerana, A. dorsata, A. florea) constituted 65 to 70 per cent on CMS and 75 to 78 per cent on R line. Among honeybees, A. florea was most predominant followed by A. cerana. The peak foraging activity of honeybees showed a maximum at 13:00 h on adjacent and central rows of CMS line and at 11:00 h on R line, whereas other pollinators showed bimodal activity at 9:00h and 17:00h on both the lines. The maximum floral nectar secretion was recorded at 18:00 h (14.71 μl) and TSS was at 17:00 h (31.33 per cent). As the number of bee visits to CMS flowers increased, so was the boll set and seed set. In total moves of A. cerana within and between parental lines, 15.25 per cent accounted for A to R and 8.75 per cent for R to A visits. In the open pollination of CMS, the per cent of boll set (82.66 and 80.33), seed yield per plant (82.76 and 74.58 g), number of seeds per boll (20.33 and 17.33), test weight (12.24 and 12.46 g) and seed oil content (16.73 and 15.23 per cent) were significantly higher in adjacent rows of CMS line than in central ones. The seed yield per plant was 4.31 per cent more under pollination with high bee density (8 frame bees) when compared to that with low bee density (4 frames).ennullThesis