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The studies on pollinator complex and their impact on fruit set, yield and quality characters of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv Shahi with reference to Apis mellifera L. was carried at ICAR-NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur (Bihar) India, during 2014-15. The 20 pollinator species under 23 genera of 8 families belonging to orders Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were recorded. Honey bee species Apis dorsata F; Apis mellifera L; Apis cerana F. and Apis florea F. were the most important and efficient pollinators of litchi flowers and constitutes more than 65% of the total pollinators. Other than Apis genera important pollinators were Episyrphus balteatus, Melipona sp, Syrpus sp, Erisyrphus sp, etc. The activity of A. mellifera visiting the flowers was highest (9.66 foragers/panicle/5 min). Correlation and regression analysis revealed that all honey bee species differed in their responses to temperature, light intensity and solar radiation, the three most important factors in foraging behavior. The yield was significantly higher in completely open pollinated plant as compared to A. mellifera pollinated plant. The qualitative and quantitative parameters, viz. fruit size, fruit weight, the maximum seed weight, seed size and TSS were found higher with open pollinated plants followed by A. mellifera pollination.

In India food demand is increasingly doubled due to calorie consumption of fast growing population rate. For achieving and sustaining a high level of food production, especially in agriculture, soil must be regularly replenished with a balance of crop nutrients, like macronutrients, secondary nutrients and micronutrients. Sulphur (S) comes under secondary nutrients after nitrogen, phosphorus and potash (potassium) at number four as an essential nutrient. It exists in group 16 and period 3 with a molecular weight of 32 in the periodic table. Naturally S occurs as an element found in many minerals like iron pyrites, galena, gypsum and Epsom salts. In Igneous and Sedimentary rocks S occurs as sulphides and in soil it is also present as organic compounds also in industrial wastes, sea water as well as gaseous emission in the atmosphere. Under temperate conditions it assumes that more than 95% of total S in soil is present in the organic matter due to low decomposition rate. In plants, sulphur plays an important role in protein synthesis.

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