DIVERSITY OF POLLINATING BEES VISITING LITCHI FLOWERS (LITCHI CHINENSIS SONN.) AND IT’S CORRELATION WITH ABIOTIC PARAMETERS IN SURGUJA DISTRICT OF CHHATTISGARH, INDIA

G.P. Painkra* and Sachin Kumar Jaiswal

All India Coordinated Research Project on Honey Bees and Pollinators, IGKV, Department of Entomology, Raj Mohini Devi College of Agriculture and Research Station,

Ambikapur-497001(Chhattisgarh) India.

Email: gppainkrarmd@gmail.com

Received-23.08.2022, Revised-10.09.2022, Accepted-25.09.2022

Abstract: Pollination is a vital step in a litchi production system, as both fruit yield and quality are dependent on the extent of cross pollination. The extent of crosspollination and enhanced fruit setting in litchi is significantly carried out by honey bees in the region. The present was undertaken at Raj Mohini Devi College of Agriculture and Research station, Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) substation of Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) India, during 27 February 2021- 02April 2021. The foraging studies, reveal that five species of pollinators were recorded on Litchi (flowers of Litchi) during flowering period i.e., Apis mellifera, Apis cerena indica, Apis florea, Apis dorsata andstingless bee (Tetragonula iridipennis) etc. The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) has been found the most efficient pollinator (% visitation 35.24) of litchi followed by Rock bee (Apis dorsata) (% visitation 33.26).

Keywords: Abiotic parameter, Bee diversity, Litchi chinensis, Pollination, Tetragonula iridipennis

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