Effect of Honey Bee Pollination, Bee Attractants and Scents on Yield ofSesamum

摘要

Sesamum is a highly cross pollinated crop, rich in oil and protein. Pollination is mostly performed by insects. Any material toincrease honey bee visits to specific crop would be of great practical value to harness the benefits of cross pollination. There arevery few studies on the role of bee attractants enhancing bee visitation and yield in sesame crop. Hence, the present investigationswere undertaken. Apis cerana caged plots was best among all treatments showing significant effects. In caged condition with A.cerana, plants had more capsules per plant (54.00), capsule length (23.24 mm), capsule width (7.22 mm) number of seeds percapsule (54.57), test weight (3.92 g), germination (92.00 %) and vigour index (1261). Citral-a and Citral-b followed by Geraniolwere the next best treatments after caged condition with A. cerana colony. Oil content, weight of green capsule did not differsignificantly among the various treatments. We conclude that by keeping Apis cerana bee colonies in sesamum, yield can beenhanced. Application of Citral-a, Citral-b and Geraniol is also beneficial in enhancing the yield.