Natural attractants enhance pollinator visitation frequency in mango

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the attractiveness of different natural compounds to major mango pollinators viz., Chrysomya megacephala and Apis florea. Sugar solution, jaggery solution, cane juice, mango pulp, fish wash and water were evaluated for their efficiency in attracting mango pollinators. All the attractants were tested at 10% concentration and a control spray was given with water. The attractants were tested in mango cultivar Alphonso. For Apis florea, cane juice recorded the highest attraction on 3rd day after spray followed by Jaggery solution with 1.20 and 0.96 bees/minute/panicle respectively. Fish wash spray reported highest attraction to Chrysomya megacephala with 2.06 fly/minute/panicle followed by Jaggery solution with 1.53 fly/minute/panicle.