Impact of the foraging activity of Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on increasing yields of Gossypium hirsutum (Malvaceae) in Djoumassi (Garoua, Cameroon)

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of the foraging behaviour of Apis mellifera in increasing boll and seed yields of Gossypium hirsutum, its pollination activities were studied in Garoua for two seasons, from September through October 2018 and 2019. Observations were made on 540 flowers divided into four treatments of which two were differentiated according to the presence or absence of flower protection regarding insect visits; the third was made of protected and opened flowers, to allow Apis mellifera visits and the fourth made of opened flowers then closed without any visit. The bee's daily rhythm of activity, their foraging and pollination activities were evaluated. Results showed that, on Gossypium hirsutum flowers, Apis mellifera intensely collected pollen and nectar. Data obtained allow the classification of this Malvaceae as a highly polliniferous and nectariferous bee plant species. Through its pollination efficiency, Apis mellifera has increased the fruiting rate by 29.66% and 13.95%, the mean number of seeds per boll by 24.53% and 14.89% and the percentage of normal seeds by 3.89% and 8.87% in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Hence, the conservation of Apis mellifera colonies close to Gossypium hirsutum fields is recommended to improve its boll and seed yields.

Impact of Plant Extracts on the Pollination Activity of <i>Apis mellifera</i> Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on Flowers of Cowpea Variety Feekem, in Dang (Adamaoua, Cameroon)

“…Similar behavior of the same bee species was reported in Bé labo (Centre region of Cameroon) [23]. On the other hand, in the Ngaoundere region, which is an area with high beekeeping activity and high honey production in Cameroon [60], it has been reported that the foraging workers of this domestic bee collect more nectar than pollen during the day [18,20]. When visiting a flower for pollen collection, Ap.…”

“…mellifera was the most frequent floricultural insect on V. unguiculata blooming flowers with 25.7% of occurrence during the two years of study. This observation is reminiscent of that reported in Cameroon by Kengni et al [59], Djonwangwe et al [37], Mbianda et al [23], Adamou et al [20,37]. In Benin, the most frequent insect on cowpea flowers was reported as X. olivacea [34] while in Nigeria, Ap.…”

“…Many plants species depend on the pollination by insect [15,16]. Efficient pollination by insects increases fruit yield [17][18][19][20][21]. In natural environments as well as in agro-ecosystems, floricultural insects in general and Apoï dae (Hymenoptera) including Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in particular have great ecological and economic importance as pollinators, because they positively influence agro-food production [18,22,23].…”