Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
Foraging behavior and pollination efficiency of sesame insect pollinators in semi arid region of Haryana
Kavadana Sankara Rao, Kumar Yogesh, Yadav Sunita, Nayak Sudhansu Bala
Research Articles | Published: 27 May, 2022
Online ISSN : 2229-4473.
Website:www.vegetosindia.org
Pub Email: contact@vegetosindia.org
First Page: 1142
Last Page: 1149
Views: 1308
Keywords:
Sesame, Abundance, Foraging rate, Foraging speed, Pollination efficiency
Abstract
Sesame is an entomogenous crop attracting many social and solitary bees. To record the foraging behavior and pollination efficiency of the frequently visiting bees in sesame crop, the present study was conducted during Kharif of 2017 and 2018 at Research farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. Among the seven recorded species, Apis dorsata Fabricius (4.86 bees/m2/5 min) followed by Apis mellifera Linneus (2.40 bees/m2/5 min) were the most abundant and Apis cerana indica Fabricius (0.68 bees/m2/5 min) was least abundant species. Megachile cephalotes Smith (5.67 flowers/min) and Megachile lanata Fabricius (5.62 flowers/min) were found to visit highest number of flowers, whereas Ceratina smaragdula Fabricius (2.45 flowers/min) visited least number of flowers. Further, C. smaragdula had spent maximum time per flower (12.60 s) followed by A. florea (8.35 s) and it was least with M. cephalotes (3.83 s). The calculated pollination index showed the highest pollination efficiency of A. dorsata (72,667.65) followed by A. mellifera (22,456.81), while the lowest index was recorded by the M. cephalotes (385.50). The study could be useful to understand the foraging behavior of important of pollinators of sesame crop.
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Acknowledgements
Author wishes to thank the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for its financial support through Senior Research Fellowship.
Author Information
Department of Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India
ksankararao0987@gmail.com
Department of Entomology, MSSSOA, Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Paralakhemundi, India