Effectiveness of honeybee (Apis mellifera) visit on the pollination of different sunflower cultivars

Abstract

Background: Utilizing pollinators is one of the most dependable, economical, and environmentally friendly ways to improve cross-pollination, boost crop output, and improve crop quality. Bees are regarded as the best pollinators among all other pollinators. Methods: The current study was conducted to elucidate the impact of honeybee (Apis mellifera) visits on the pollination of various sunflower cultivars including Hysum-33, Hysun-38, and FH-106. Results: Our finding revealed that the highest average number of honeybee visits was observed in the morning followed by noon and afternoon on different sunflower cultivars. The maximum number of honeybee visits was recorded on Hysun-38, while the minimum was recorded on the FH-106 cultivar, which was 87.85 and 73.6, respectively. In (Hysun-33) and (FH-106), the maximum average time spent by the honeybee noticed in the morning on the flower was 34.24 and 32.67 min, whereas the maximum average time spent in the evening on the flower of (Hysun-38), which was 36.41 min. Regression analysis demonstrated that a significant effect between the head diameter of sunflower cultivars and the number of honey bee visits (p < 0.05). In addition, a significant effect was observed between the number of honeybees visited and the number of seed settings on all cultivars of sunflower (p < 0.05). There was a highly strong positive correlation between the number of seed sets and the head diameter of all cultivars. Conclusion: It is concluded that farmers should maintain honeybee colonies close to the desired crop to increase pollination and increase output.

Keywords

• Honeybees
• Pollination
• Sunflower
• Cultivars