DefinePK

Abstract

Abstract | Sesame is ranked among the top ten traditional oil seed crops of Pakistan. The present study is aimed to compare the effectiveness of native honey bees and solitary bees for better seed production of sesame and future conservation of effective insect pollinators. The sesame crop was grown during two years (2019 & 2020) at the research farm of MNS- University of Agriculture Multan, Pakistan. Abundance and diversity of native insect pollinators, their foraging behavior in terms of visit duration and visitation rate (number of flowers visited per minute) along with their pollination effectiveness in terms of single visit seed set efficacy were assessed. Pollinator community was composed of seven solitary bees species (Nomia oxybeloides, Amegilla sp., Lasioglossum sp., Megachile sp., Xylocopa sp.), two honeybee species (Apis dorsata, A. florea) and two syrphid fly species (Eristalinus aeneus, Ischiodon scutellaris). In both the years, honey bees were more abundant than the solitary bees while the syrphid flies were least abundant. However, visitation rate of solitary bee, Amegilla sp. was the highest (6.4 ± 0.41) followed by N. oxybeloides (3.4 ± 0.32) and A. dorsata (3.1 ± 0.90). Based on single visit seed set parameters i.e., capsule length (cm), capsule weight (gm), number of seed per capsule and seed weight per capsule (gm), solitary bee Amegilla sp. was the most efficient followed by A. dorsata and N. oxybeloides. Conserving the most efficient native solitary bee (Amegilla sp.) and honey bee (A. dorsata) can lead to higher seed production. Moreover, the effectiveness of Amegilla sp. should also be evaluated for other oil seed crops in Punjab, Pakistan.