Effect of Honey Bee (Apia cerana) Dominated Insect Pollination on Yield and Quality of Mustard, Buckwheat and Plum in a Central Himalayan Agro-Ecosystem

This paper presents the finding of pollination effects of honeybees (Apis cerana) on productivity outcomes of the three crops of the Himalayan agro-ecosystem: mustard (Brassica campestris), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and plum (Prunus domestica). We used pollination exclusion on flowers of target crops to assess the contribution of pollinators on crop yield. The effect of pollination on various yield parameters under different treatments viz. Open pollination (OP) with supplementation of beehives and Control pollination (CP, pollinator exclusion) were quantified. The CP treatment negatively impacted crop yield variables in all the target crops contrary to the OP, where yield variables were significantly higher in all the target crops. Total yield of mustard increased by 27% (179 vs. 227 kg/ha), buckwheat by 73% (309 vs. 1141 kg/ha) and plum by 64% (0.92 vs. 2.52 kg fruits /branch) in OP than the CP. This is mainly due to higher pollinator density in the OP and supplementation of A. cerana beehive. The maximum pollinator species diversity was recorded in buckwheat (16 spp.) followed by mustard (15 spp.) and plum (13 spp.). In all the target crops, honeybee (A. cerana) emerged as the most abundant visitor, with mean density of24.38±0.92 in mustard, 18.56±2.00 in buckwheat and 39.45±1.45 in plum. The findings indicate that pollinators, especially honeybees can be suitably integrated with agro-ecosystems of this region for effective pollination management and to maximize the crop yield.