Melittophilous Mode of Pollination Predominates in European Plum (Prunus domestica L.) in the Semi-Arid Environment of Northwest India

Abstract

European plum (Prunus domestica L.) is an important fruit and medicinal plant. This fruit plant is a new introduction in the Northwest region of India. Flowers of this plant need crosspollination for fruit set. However, the spectrum of pollinators and their relative role in pollination of flowers of this fruit plant in this region is not known. To meet these objectives, the present study was carried out. An entire range of flower visitors of this fruit plant was captured with hand net from its field and were identified. On the basis of foraging mode, the flower visitors were characterized as pollinators and non-pollinators. Their relative abundances, foraging rates, activity durations and number of pollen grains carried on the surface were recorded and these parameters were used to determine their pollinating efficiencies. During the two years of this study, a total of 12 insect species were observed on the three varieties of plum at Hisar. Among these insect visitors, five species belonged to Hymenoptera, five to Diptera, one to Lepidoptera and one to Coleoptera. Apis dorsata was the most abundant visitor having maximal foraging rate and carried maximal number of loose pollen grains and proved to be the most efficient pollinator of plum (P. domestica) in both the seasons followed by A. mellifera, A. cerana and A. florea; the dipterans were the least efficient pollinators of plum in both the years. On the basis of these parameters, melittophilous mode of pollination was found to predominate in this fruit plant in the semi-arid environment of Northwest India. Conservation of wild honeybees has been recommended.

Abundance, foraging behavior and pollination efficiency of insects visiting the flowers of Aonla (Emblica officinalis)

“…The honey bees were the predominant visitors of the flowers of Aonla in the semi-arid environment of Northwest India. These results resemble the results of other studies carried out in this region [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The pollinators made preferably more visits on male flowers than female flowers (Fig.…”

“…and a butterfly (Psichotoe duvauceli) were the non-dominant visitors and were clubbed under "other insect pollinators." Similar pattern of insect diversity was observed in the earlier studies carried out in the semi-arid environment of Northwest India [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…These plants included; pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) [4], sunflower (Helianthus annuus L) [5], cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) [6], coriander (Corriandrum sativum L.) [7], carrot (Daucus carota L.), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.) [8], sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina) [9], the European plum (Prunus domestica L.) [10], and also some other oilseed, vegeTable and condiment plants [1,2]. However, this report is not exhaustive and many such reports are now available [11].…”

Crop Hosts and Pollination Potential of the Red Dwarf Honey Bee (Apis florea F.) in the Semi-arid Environment of North West India

“…In the semi-arid environment of northwest India, the red dwarf honey bee (Apis florea) visited some 38 locally grown crops and acted as an important pollinator of more than 35 of these crops (Table 1). In earlier studies too, this honey bee was identified as the most abundant flower visitor of many crop plants in the semi-arid environment of northwest India 1,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] . In this part of India, the Indian hive bee (Apis cerana) is not indigenous and managed pollination with Apis mellifera has not yet practiced on large scale.…”

“…botrytis) 19 , carrot (Daucus carota L.) 20,21 , coriander (Corriandrum sativum L.) 22 , fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.) 21,23 , Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) 24 , Praecitrullus (Praecitrullus fistulosus) 25 , wanga (Cucumis melo s.sp. melo) 26 , Onion (Allium cepa L.) 21,27 , sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina) 28 and European plum (Prunus domestica L.) 29 . However, this report is not exhaustive.…”