Influence of pollination by honey bee (Apis cerana indica F.) on the yield parameters of bottle gourd

Abstract

The effect of different modes of pollination on quantitative parameters of bottle gourd was studied during kharif 2019 at Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari. The different quantitative parameters like the number of fruits/plant, per cent fruit set, per cent malformed fruit, fruit diameter, fruit weight, yield, and yield/ha were maximum in open pollination (5.38, 59.67%, 25.09%, 6.84cm, 961.24g, 5.17 kg/plant and 25,836 kg/ha, respectively) compared to pollination with Apis cerana indica (5.14, 54.03%, 20.43%, 6.76cm, 878.57g, 4.52 kg/plant and 22,607 kg/ha, respectively). The number of fruit drops was maximum in pollination with A. cerana indica (4.57), followed by open pollination (3.69). In the treatment of pollination without insects, no fruit formation was observed. The cost-benefit ratio was highest in open pollination (22.49:1) compared to pollination with A. cerana indica (4.69: 1).