Relative abundance of insect visitors on flowers of major subtropical fruits in Himachal Pradesh and their effect on fruit set

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during 1992 und 1993 to study relative abundance of insect visitors on flowers ' Dashehari' mango (Magnifera Indica L.), 'Dehradun' litchi (Litchi chinensis Son.,) and citrus (Citrus spp.), and their effect on fruit set. Out of 34 insect species recorded on the flowers of loose-skinned mandarin or santara (Citrus reticulata Blanco), malta (C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck), kinnow mandarin (C. nobilis lour. x C. deliciosa Tenore), mango and litchi, 15 belonged to Diptera, 13 to Hymenoptera, 4 to Coleoptera and 1 each to Ledipotera and Hemiptera. Of these insect species, italian honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) was the main pollinator in Citrus spp., little-bee (A. florea L.) and hover-fl; (Episyrphus 1betreatus Deg.) on litchi and flies belonging 10 family Calliphoridae (order Diptera) on mango, Mango proved to be highly cross-pollinated crop with maximum increase (infinite) in fruit set (%), followed by malta ( 193.47) and litchi (148.12) with pollinators.