Foraging behavior of major insect pollinators on Pumpkin, Cucurbitamoschata (Duch.ex Lam)
Article Main
Abstract
Foraging activity period of different honey bee species on C. moschata (C-1076) flowers at different day hours during August-September (2013) revealed that A. dorsata, A. mellifera, A. cerana and A. florea initiated their activity early in the morning at 0530, 0615, 0625 and 0630 h, respectively and stopped their activity at 1030, 1020, 1025 and 1030 h of the day, respectively while on C. moschata (C-1106, A. dorsata, A. mellifera, A. cerana and A. florea initiated their activity early in the morning at 0535, 0615, 0620 and 0625 h, respectively and ceased their activity at 1045, 1025, 1015 and 1040 h of the day, respectively. The mean foraging speed (time spent per flower) in seconds on flowers of pumpkin (C-1106) was maximum of A. florea (181.72), followed by A. mellifera (7.15), A. cerana (6.05) and A. dorsata spent least time (5.83) and in pumpkin (C-1076), foraging speed was maximum in case of A. florea (178.71), followed by A. mellifera (7.63), A. cerana (6.24) and A. dorsata spent least time (6.06). The mean foraging rate (flowers visited per minute) on flowers of pumpkin (C-1106) was maximum in case of A. dorsata (5.13), followed by A. cerana (4.30), A. mellifera (4.16) and A. florea visited least flower (0.32) and in pumpkin (C-1076), foraging rate was maximum in case of A. dorsata (4.96), followed by A. cerana (4.19), A. mellifera (4.02) and A. florea visited least flower (0.33). Present study advises the farmers that they should not apply the pesticide when the activity of honey bee is on the peak period because pesticides application at the time of bee activity in the field crop causes mortality of bees.
Article Details
Article Details
Foraging rate, Foraging speed, Honey bee species, Pumpkin
Benedek, P. (1976). Effect of environmental factors on the foraging rates of honey bees in red clover fields. Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Entomologie, 81(1): 14-20
Collison, C. H. and Martin, E. C. (1979). Behaviour of honey bees foraging on male and female flowers of Cucumis sativus. Journal of Apicultural Research, 18: 184-190
Deyto, R. C. and Cervancia, C. R. (2009). Floral biology and pollination of Ampalaya (Momordica charantia L.) Philipp. Agri. Scientist, 92(1): 8-18
Fageri, K. and Vander Pijl, L. (1979). The Principles of Pollination Ecology (3rd edn.). Pergamon Press, Great Britain, 244 pp
Forbes, M. F. and Cervancia, C. R. (1994). Foraging behaviour of Apis Cerana F. and Apis mellifera L. (Apidae: Hymenoptera) in Malayjay, Laguna. Phil. J. Sci., 23(1): 21-27
Foster, R. E. and Levin, M. D. (1967). F1 hybrid muskmelons II, Bee activity in seed fields. J. Ariz. Acad. Sci., 4:222-225
Free, J. B. (1993). Insect pollination of Crops (2nd edn.). Academic Press, London, U.K., 684 pp
Girish, P.P. (1981). Role of bees in the pollination of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) with special reference of Apis cerana F. (Hymenoptera: Apidae). M.Sc. Thesis, University of Agriculture Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Goulson, D. (1999). Foraging strategies of insect for gathering nectar and pollen, and implications for plant ecology and evolution. Prospect Plant Ecol. Evol. Systemat, 2(2): 185-209
Kearns, C. W. and Inouye, D. W. (1993). Techniques for Pollination Biologists. University Press of Colorado, Niwot, Colorado, 583 pp
Nicodemo, D., Couto, R. H. N., Malheiros, E.B. and De Jong, D. (2009). Honey bee as effective pollinatings agent of pumpkin. Sci. Agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.), 66(4): 476-480
Pandian, K., Baskaran, S., Sundaravadivelan, C., Anburaj, J. and Kuberan, T. (2012). Insect visitors of pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima Duch in relation to temperature and relative humidity. Journal of Agricultural Technology, 8(2): 501-513.
Pernal, S. F. and Currie, R.W. (2010). The influence of pollen quality on foraging behavior in honeybees (Apis mel¬lifera L.). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 51:53–68
Silva, D. P., Moisan-De-Serres, J., Souza, D. C., Hilgert-Moreira, S.B., Fernandes, M.Z., Kevan, P.G. and Freitas, B. M. (2013). Ef-ficiency in pollen foraging by honey bees: time, mo¬tion, and pollen depletion on flowers of Sysirinchium palmifolium (Asparagales: Iridaceae). Journal of Pol¬lination Ecology, 11: 27–32
Yucel, B. and Duman, I. (2005). Effects of foraging activity of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) on onion (Allium cepa) seed production and quality. Pakistan Journal of Bio¬logical Sciences, 8:123–126
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) © Author (s)
