Vol. 10, Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
Hitesh, KL Painkra, GP Painkra, PK Bhagat and Neelam Chouksey

Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted with bee attractants viz., jaggery solution, sugar solution, milk powder and Glucon-D solution with different concentrations on foraging activities/visits of bees in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) crop. The results revealed that the day before spray, visitation of all bees was found uniform, however after sprays of bee-attractants the bees species viz., rock bee (Apisdosata), Indian bee (A. cerana indica), Italian bee (A. mellifera) and little bee (A. florea) visits were recorded maximum in 15% jaggery solution (with 7.02, 6.48, 4.55 and 4.29 bees/5min/m2 respectively), followed by 15% sugar solution (6.18, 5.80, 4.20 and 3.88 bee visits/5min/m2, respectively). The sugar + jaggery solution10% (with 6.04, 5.49, 3.76 and 3.44 bees/5min/m²respectively) was the second best bee attractant, followed by jaggery solution 10% (5.72, 5.46, 3.99 and 3.41 bees/5min/m²), sugar solution 10% (5.53, 5.47, 3.80 and 3.56 bees/5min/m²),glucon-D + milk powder solution 10% (5.22, 5.17, 3.72 and 3.33 bees/5min/m²), while the least visits of bees were on Glucon-D solution15% (4.85, 4.82, 3.56 and 2.95 bees/5min/m²respectively).