Diversity, Abundance and Impact of Insect Visitors in Litchi chinensis Production

Abstract

Litchi chinensis is the “queen of fruits”, and pollination is an essential requirement for fruit set and production. The present study was conducted in litchi orchards to study the diversity/abundance of insect visitors, the impact of pollination on quantitative parameters, and different modes of pollination. The results showed that 75 insect species during flowering were reported including Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera. In natural pollination, the abundance of insect visitors of Hymenoptera was more during morning and evening (50.25% and 44.89%, respectively) compared to Lepidoptera (21.83 and 26.67%) and Diptera (24.37 and 23.33%). Similarly, natural pollination with one Apis mellifera colony also showed higher abundance of insect visitors of Hymenoptera during morning and evening (50.15 and 57.31%, respectively) as compared to Lepidoptera and Diptera. The Dipteran insect visitors under natural pollination showed significant positive correlation with temperature, wind speed and UV. The fruit/seed size, peel weight, juice pH, pulp weight, moisture, and total soluble solids were higher in natural pollination with A. mellifera. The percentage of fruit set and fruit weight (g) was significantly higher in natural pollination with A. mellifera (23.24 ± 1.40% and 1.60 ± 0.11 g, respectively). There was no fruit set observed in bagged panicles with nylon mesh.

Augmentation of Apis mellifera for Fruit Yield Enhancement in Capparis decidua (Forssk.) Edgew (Kair)

“…The Dehradun cultivar of litchi had the highest yield when pollinated by bees, as opposed to tree which are not pollinated by bees, according to Badiyala and Awasthi [25]. Similar findings were observed by Kumari et al [26] stating that percentage fruit set/fruit weight was higher in natural pollination with A. mellifera and other pollination modes than without pollination by insect pollinators. Pareek et al [27] showed how important pollination and pollinators are for fruit setting in ber.…”

Pollination efficacy of honeybee (Apis mellifera) influencing litchi fruit production

“…found that TSS content increases with increase in storage period of litchi. Kumari et al (2023)[14] reported 21.86-22.3 o Brix TSS in different treatments. A. mellifera is significant pollinator of litchi flowers.…”