Role of Honey Bee Pollination in Quality Seed Production of Cauliflower for Scalingup of Livelihood in Vaishali District of Bihar
Abstract
An On farm trial was conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Vaishali, Bihar to study the impact of planned honeybee pollination on the seed production and quality of Cauliflower seeds as well as pollination behavior of Apis mellifera. More number of bees were found visiting the crop under net house condition (6.05 , 5.35, 5.05 bees/plant at all the three locations of traditionally seed producing Hariharpur, Rajapakar and Chakwara villages of Vaishali district. Bees in the open conditions were found to spend less time on flower as compared to the net house conditions. Honeybees played an important role in enhancing the seed production of cauliflower at all location under study. Planned honeybee pollination was found to result maximum impact on the seed production seeds/pod in the range of 15.50-19.10 seeds/pod in net pollination as compared to 13.60-17.20 seeds/pod in open condition. Similarly, average 1000 seed wt. in net pollinated condition was 3.30-4.19 gm whereas 3.00-3.97 gm in open field condition, and the yield in net condition was in range 534-637 kg/ha with additional income of 14 to 17 lakh rupees per hectare. This study result clearly indicates the importance of pollination services of honey bees and the role bee colonies can play in improving the quality and quantity of seed production of cauliflower and other crops too.
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