Abstract
Pollination in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) was studied using stingless bees, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith and honey bee, Apis cerana F. Data on the resource partitioning revealed the foraging activity of pollinators. Pollination efficiency index was observed to be maximum with A. cerana (24) followed by T. iridipennis (14), and significantly maximum fruit set (81.66 and 78.97%) was obtained with their pollination. An increase of 87.48% in fruit set, 46.47% in healthy fruits and 275.23% in seed numbers was noticed, with longer (17.85 and 17.22 cm) and heavier (0.415 and 0.411 kg) fruits in the A. cerana and T. iridipennis pollinated plots. Maximum number of healthy fruits was achieved with bee pollination as compared to open pollination and control, and A. cerana showed more mortality as compared to T. iridipennis. .
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
