FORAGING ACTIVITY OF MANAGED BEE POLLINATOR (Apis cerana indica) IN BITTER GOURD CROPPING SYSTEM IN INDIA

Abstract

Honey bees play an important role in crop pollination of bitter gourd flowers. An experiment was conducted at Coimbatore District to observe the foraging activity and pollination efficiency of Indian bee (A. cerana indica) in Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). The foraging activity and number of foragers/ flower/ min was recorded in male and female bitter gourd flower. Bitter gourd fruit set and yield was assessed under three conditions pollinator exclusion, bee pollination and open pollination.No. of foragers/ flower/ minute (abundance of pollinators) and floral handling time in seconds (foraging rate) of Indian bees recorded on male flower (0.88 bees) and (6.52 sec) was higher than in female flower (0.57 bees) and (3.61 sec) respectively. The peak foraging activity of A. cerana indica noticed between 08:00-10:00 hours with 1.2 foragers/ 5 mins. Pollination efficiency index of Indian bee was 747035.5. Foraging activity at the hive entrance was maximum at 08:00 to 10:00 hours. Colony growth parameter of A. cerana indica was increased 67.85% in respect of the sealed honey area and 15.07% in respect of the adult population. The results of pollination studies show, the number of fruits/plant (17.4 fruits) and fruit yield per hectare (41.13 t/ha) was higher in managed bee pollinated plot than to open pollination condition (16.2 fruits) and (37.25 t/ha) and no fruit set was recorded in pollination exclusion condition.