SURVEILLANCE OF POLLINATORS AND THEIR BEHAVIOUR IN MANGO FLOWERS

Mango, Mangifera indica, is the king of fruits in India, one of the popular fruits in the world due to its attractive color, delicious taste and excellent nutritional properties. Mango is not only known for its sweet fragrance and flavor, but also due to the increasing domestic demand and export potential of the fruit. Fruit set in mango is dependent on successful pollination which depends on the availability of high quality pollen, the presence of a high number of suitable pollinators, and optimal weather conditions, and must be optimized to limit fruit drop, which is extremely high in mango trees. Typically, mango trees are pollinated via wind, flies, butterflies, and moths. Systematic surveillance was done in the mango orchard at Fruit Research Station, Sangareddy, Andhra pradesh and pollinators were observed and recorded during peak flowering stage in fifty tagged inflorescences of five trees. Foraging behaviour of pollinators were observed on mango flowers for 7 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 6 pm. Most of these insects belonged to the orders diptera and hymenoptera. The important pollinators are honey bees (Apis dorsata, A.florae, A cerana indica), Meliponas sp, Coccinella septumpunctata), housefly (Musca nebulo) and other moths and butterflies. Among the pollinators, honey bee was found to be the major pollinator (30%). The maximum population of different pollinators were recorded during 5th meteorological were (8.5) and there after the number of pollinator decreased. The maximum number of pollinators were observed in the medium height of the tree. The pollinators activity was maximum in the north direction followed by east and west. The population of pollinators is maximum in the full bloom flowering stage of mango and population of pollinators is negatively correlated with mean temperature (r value = -0.3499) and relative humidity (-0.1265). There was no fruit set on completely bagged panicles. Some setting took place when bags were opened for 24, 48, and 72 hours in bloom. Insecticidal spraying affected activity of the pollinators and thus fruit set.