FORAGING BEHAVIOUR OF Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith) IN CUCUMBER UNDER PROTECTED CULTIVATION

V. V. LINTU¹, V.S. AMRITHA²*, A. PAUL^3
1Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Trivandrum, 695522, Kerala, India
²Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Trivandrum, 695522, Kerala, India
³Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Trivandrum, 695522, Kerala, India
* Corresponding Author : amritvs@gmail.com

Received : 15-09-2020     Accepted : 26-09-2020     Published : 30-09-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 18       Pages : 10228 - 10231
Int J Agr Sci 12.18 (2020):10228-10231

Keywords : Foraging behaviour, Stingless bee, Diurnal variation, Cucumber, Polyhouse
Academic Editor : E. Jimenez, Dr Balwinder Kumar
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Agricultural Entomology and Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, 695522, Kerala, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Foraging behaviour of Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith) on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) flowers inside the polyhouse was evaluated to determine the effectiveness of using them as pollinators. The mode of foraging and foraging behaviour viz; foraging rate, foraging intensity and foraging speed of stingless bees was recorded during the peak flowering stage of the crop. The diurnal variations in colony activity viz; total number of returning (pollen and nectar) and outgoing foragers were counted separately for 5 minutes at the entrance of the bee colony. The observations were taken at hourly intervals from 0800-0900 h to 1600-1700 h. Temperature and the relative humidity inside the polyhouse was also recorded. Two modes of alighting were observed viz; side workers (78.00 %) and top workers (22.00 %). The highest foraging rate as 6.80 male flowers 5 min-1 was observed during 0800-0900 h, highest foraging intensity as 4.40 bees male flower-1 10 min-1 during 1000-1100 h and longest time spent by bee per male flower as 44.30 sec. during 1200-1300 h. The nectar and pollen collection peaks were during 1200-1400 h. There is a significant positive correlation between temperature and number of incoming foragers (r = 0.78) and a significant negative correlation between relative humidity and number of incoming foragers (r = -0.68).

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