STUDY ON POLLINATOR DIVERSITY IN LITCHI ORCHARD

Abstract

A study was conducted in the village Kachubari of Thakurgaon district in a litchi orchard to keep record of the diversity and relative abundance of litchi flower visiting insect and to see the production difference in the condition of netting (T 2 ) and without netting (T 1 ). In without netting (T ) condition, the maximum number of inflorescences per branch was 8.01(no.) whereas the minimum no was 8.03 (no.) in netting condition. The percentage of Male, Female and Hermaphrodite flower was 28%, 40% and 32% respectively. We have found different kind of insect’s species that visit the litchi flower including honeybees, ants, different flies and some other insects. The most visited pollinator were Honeybee (49.72%) then Ant (36.5%) and the lowest visited was Dipteran (22%). The other foraging insects were some Lepidopteran, Coleopteran, Hemipteran etc. The foraging time of the honeybees were high at 6.00am to 8.00am and 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm. The butterflies were present during 10.00 pm to 2.00 pm. Other than honeybees the ant and the flies were noticed almost throughout the day. In the netting condition the flies, honeybees, butterfly, beetles and other foraging insects were not able to enter the net but ants were seen in the net. The yield difference between the netting and without netting condition was very significant. In netting condition, the yield was 8% (0.11 kg/branch) whereas without netting condition it was 92% (1.28 kg/branch) due to the pollinating agent. From this study it is evident that the role of pollinators on litchi orchard is very significant. It also helps to let us know to conserve pollinator in Litchi orchard.