Comments on: Save Ice Cream! #HelpHoneyBees

By: Prof. R.C.Sihg

Prof. R.C.Sihg — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:16:22 +0000

Role of honeybees in crop production
Normally four kinds of breeding barriers are found in the angiosperms. These include: self-incompatibility, differential sexual maturity, unisexuality and heterostyly (Frankel and Galun; 1977, Faegri and Van der Pijl, 1979;Sihag,1997). Agricultural plants too are not the exceptions. Examples of the crops showing complete or partial self-incompatibility are presented in table 1. In the flowers of these crops, either the self-pollen will not germinate or the pollen tube fails to reach the ovule. The fertilization of the ovule(s) is not possible. Therefore, conspecific pollen must come from other flowers ( i.e.cross-pollination is obligatory). In some crops, anthers mature much before the receptivity of the stigma of the same flower (Table 1). Therefore, self-pollination is not of any use in these crops and cross-pollination is a pre-requisite for seed set. In some other crops the stigma matures much before the dehiscence of the anthers and when the pollen is liberated in a flower its stigma has already become non-receptive (Table 1). Here too, pollen to a receptive stigma must come from the other flower(s). In some crops, the flowers are unisexual although male and female flowers are borne on the same plant (Table 1). Here pollen must come from a male flower to a female flower for seed set/fruit formation. Some plants are unisexual i.e. the plant bears either male flowers or female flowers (Table 1). Here also pollen must come from the male to the female
Table 1: Breeding and pollination status of different crop plants.
S.No. Common name of the crop Botanical name of the crop Breeding status Pollination status
1. Rapeseed toria Brassica campestris L. var. toria SI CP
2. Sarson Brassica campestris L. var. sarson SI CP
3. Rocket cress Eruca sativa Mill SI CP
4. Sunflower Helianthus annuus L. SI CP
5. Clove Oil Syzygium aromaticum SI CP
6. Cauliflower Brassica oleracea L.var. botrytis SI CP
7. Turnip Brassica rapa L. SI CP
8. Radish Raphanus satcvus L. SI CP
9. Apple Malus sylvestris Mill. SI CP
10. Almond Prunus amygdalus Batsch SI CP
11. Plum Prunus domestica L. SI CP
12. Pear Pyrus communis L. SI CP
13. Carambola Averrhoa carambola L. SI CP
14. Sweet cheery Prunus avium L. SI CP
15. Sour cherry Prunus cerasus L. SI CP
16. Passion fruit Passiflora spp. SI CP
17. Citrus Citrus spp. SI CP
18. Grape Vitis vinifera L. SI CP
19. Apricot Prunus armenica L. SI CP
20. Jujuba Zizyphus jujuba Mill. PT CP
21. Carrot Daucus carota L. PT CP
22. Celery Apium graveolens L. PT CP
23. Parsnip Pastinaca sativa L. PT CP
24. Fennel Foeniculum vulgare L. PT CP
25. Coriander Coriandrum sativum L. PT CP
26. Cumin Cuminum cyminum L. PT CP
27. Lavender Lavandula spp. PT CP
28. Black pepper Piper nigrum L. PG CP
29. Pawpaw Asimina triloba L. PG CP
30. Cherimoya Annona cherimola Mill. PG CP
31. Papaya Carcia papaya L. US1 CP
32. Datepalm Phoenix dactylifera L. US1 CP
33. Chinese gooseberry Actinidia chinensis Planch US1 CP
34. Asparagus Asparagus officinalis L. US2 CP
35. Coconut Cocos nucifera L. US2 CP
36. Oil palm Elaeis guineesis US2 CP
SI = Self-incompatible, PT = Protandrous, PG= Protogynous, ,
US1 = Flowers unisexual, US2 =Plants unisexual, CP=Cross-pollinated
flowers. Still in some cases, male and female parts are not at the same height, which may also necessitate cross-pollination. Due to these breeding barriers, therefore, flowers of many crops require cross-pollination for seed/fruit set (Sihag; 2001). Honeybees are considered to be the best pollen vectors and pollinators of crops due to their following characteristics:-
i) Their larvae are dependent on nectar and pollen as their food.
ii) They bear hair on their bodies for carrying pollen from one flower to the other flower.
iii) Their population can be manipulated as per the requirement.
iv) They have high floral constancy i.e. individual bee makes repeated visits to the same type of flowers.
v) The colonies can be transported from one place to the other place.
In large number of crops, honeybees have been reported to increase their see yield (Free, 1993). That is why; beekeeping too has been characterized as one of the inputs in agriculture (Sihag, 2001).
For more readings please consult:
Faegri K. and van der Pijl, L. 1979. The Principles of Pollination Ecology. Pergamon Press. 291 p.
Frankel, R. and Galun, E. 1977. Pollination Mechanisms, Reproduction and Plant Breeding. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 281 + xiP.
Free, J.B. 1993. Insect Pollination of Crops. Academic Press, London, 684 p.
Sihag,R.C.(Ed.).1997. Polination Biology : Basic ad Aplied Pnciples.Rajendra Scientific Pubishers, Hisar, 210p.
Sihag, R.C. 2001. Why should beekeeping be utilized as an input in agriculture? Current Sci. 81: 1514-1516.

By: Prof. R.C.Sihg

Prof. R.C.Sihg — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:16:00 +0000

By: Prof. R.C.Sihg

Prof. R.C.Sihg — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:16:00 +0000

By: @h0neyb

@h0neyb — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:50:54 +0000

This is so awesome!!! Save the little Bees!!!

By: @h0neyb

@h0neyb — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:50:00 +0000

This is so awesome!!! Save the little Bees!!!

By: @h0neyb

@h0neyb — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:50:00 +0000

This is so awesome!!! Save the little Bees!!!

By: Kirsten@Nexyoo

Kirsten@Nexyoo — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:47:43 +0000

Thanks for sharing this! I heard someone say the other day that because they hadn’t heard any press coverage of CCD lately, they thought the problem had gotten better.

By: Kirsten@Nexyoo

Kirsten@Nexyoo — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this! I heard someone say the other day that because they hadn’t heard any press coverage of CCD lately, they thought the problem had gotten better.

By: Kirsten@Nexyoo

Kirsten@Nexyoo — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:47:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this! I heard someone say the other day that because they hadn’t heard any press coverage of CCD lately, they thought the problem had gotten better.