Pollination involves the transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma. There are two types of pollination - self pollination within the same flower, and cross pollination between different flowers. Most crops depend on cross pollination by insects and other animals. Different types of flowers are pollinated by different agents such as insects, birds, bats. Bee pollination is important as bees help transfer pollen efficiently with their branched hairs and pollen baskets. Proper bee pasturage and avoiding pesticide use during flowering seasons helps support bee populations for effective pollination.

1. Pollination
The transfer of pollen from anthers to the stigma
Types of pollination
Self pollination: pollination
within flower
Cross pollination: pollen from one
flower is carried to stigma of
another
Angiosperm
Gymnosperm
Almost all agri. crops depend on
pollinators- 5% flowers are self-
pollinated & 95% are cross-
pollinated and out of these 85%
by insects

2. Different types of flowers

3. Sl. no. Agents Name of pollination
1. By insects Entomophily
2. By beetles Cantharophily
3. By flies Myophily
4. By bees Melittophily
5. By butterflies Psychophily
6. By moths Phalaenophily
7. By snails & slugs Malocophily
8. By birds Ornithophily
9. By bats Chiropterophily
Pollination by various agents
Self pollination: if flowers are bisexual and have stigma/ anthers at the same
height, both matures simultaneously
Cross-pollination: pollen from one flower is carried to stigma of another;
So, external carrier is required for accompanying the pollen transfer
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4. Pollination by biotic agents

5. Pollination may also be performed by water and air

6. Pollination by air is Anemophily
Approx. 12% flowering plants of the world
Grasses, cereals (rice, wheat, corn, rye, oat barley), many trees, allergenic
ragweeds
Many eco. Imp. plants- walnuts, pines, spruces, firs
Produce light, small dry pollen in billions, don’t have perfume and carried
on weed

7. Types of pollinators
A. mellifera
Hawkmoth
(Celerio lineata)
Bee fly
(Eufonchus
smaragdinus)
Humming bird
Catypte anna
Euglossini bee
Euglossa
hyacinthina
Orchid bee
Bumble bee
(Bombus
americanorum)
Longest bat
Leptonycteris sp.

8. Purpose of visit of insects on flowers
Pollen – Anther
Nectar- Nectaries are the specialized nectar
secreting glands inside the flower. They are
sweet substance which the insects drink to get
energy.
They help to attract insects
Insect pollination is extremely imp. as 5% flowers are self-pollinating
while 95% are cross pollinating crops and out of these, 80% by insects
It is estimated that half of the pollinators of tropical plants are bees
Bees & most flowering plants have developed a kind of
interdependence during millions of years

9. BEE PASTURAGE
Plants that yield pollen and nectar are collectively known as bee
pasturage or bee forage.
India possesses a wide varieties of floral geography with varied bee
pasturage
Collection of nectar and pollen by bees:
Nectar: It is a sweet substance secreted from the nectarines which may
be internal floral part or extra floral nectarines of blossoms and serves
as the basic raw material of honey. It consists of dissolved sugar i.e.
Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose.
POLLEN: It is a highly proteinaceous food for the bees.
Plants that produce only pollen are called pollen plants. Bees get all
their requirements of amino acids, vitamins and minerals from pollen.
PROPOLIS: It’s a resinous substance which is gathered chiefly from
the buds and bark of trees viz. alder, chestnut and wounds of woody
plants. It is used for sealing up cracks in the hive or nest and reducing
the size of the entrance.

10. PROPOLIS
Bees don’t make the honey alone.
They produce a compound/substance called propolis from the sap on
needle- leaved trees or evergreens.
When they combine/ mix the sap with their own discharges and
beeswax, they produce a sticky, greenish-brown product used as a
coating/ sealing material to build their hives. This is called propolis.
Ancient civilizations (thousands of years ago), used propolis for its
medicinal properties. Greeks used it to treat abscesses.
Assyrians put it on wounds and tumors to fight infection and help the
healing process. Egyptians used it to embalm (wrap) mummies.

11. PROPOLIS
The composition of propolis may vary depending on the location of the bees and
the trees and flowers they visit. So, propolis from Europe will not have the same
chemical makeup as propolis from Brazil.
Healing compounds in propolis
There are 300 compounds in propolis. Majority of these compounds are
forms of polyphenols which are antioxidants that fight disease and
damage in the body.
They are divided into 55% resins and balms, 30% wax, 10% etheric oils
and 5% pollen.
Propolis contains all the known vitamins, except vitamin K, and it has 15
minerals needed for human body to function normally (it does not
contain sulfur).
Especifically, propolis contain the polyphenols called flavonoids which
are produced in plants to afford protection. They’re also commonly
found in foods thought to have antioxidant properties, including: Fruits /
green tea/ vegetables/ red wine

12. Water: It is required inside the hive to regulate/ maintain the
temp. and to dilute stored honey.
Much water is collected in early spring. The colony survives on its
stored honey during the hot summer weather
Nectar foragers: They collect nectar from flowers by means of
lapping tongue and pass the nectar to hive bees.
Hive bees repeatedly pass the nectar between pre-oral cavity and
tongue to ripen the honey. Later they drop the ripened honey
into cells.

13. Pollen Foragers: They collect pollen by passing through different flowers.
Pollen sticking to the body is removed by using pollen comb. Later it is
packed using pollen brush into corbicula or pollen basket.
A single bee carries 10 to 30 mg of pollen which is 25 per cent of weight of
the bees.
Then the pollen is dislodged by middle leg into cells.
Pollen is mixed with honey and stored.
FLORAL FIDELITY: A bee visits flowers of same species of plant for
pollen and nectar collection until the source is exhausted. This is known as
floral fidelity. [Exception: 3% from mixed flowers. In bumble bees- 40%.]
Bees travel 2 to 3 km distance to collect pollen and nectar. But may fly
even 7 km if nothing is available in the vicinity.

14. Nectar Source Plants: Tamarind , Moringa, Neem, Prosopis juliflora
, Soapnut tree- Glyricidia maculata; Eucalyptus-Tribulus terrestris
and pungam.
•Pollen Source Plants: Sorghum • Sweet potato • Maize • Tobacco
• Millets like Cumbu, Tenai, Varagu, Ragi • Coconut • Roses •
Pomegranate • Castor • Date palm
Both Pollen And Nectar Source Plants: Banana • Peach • Citrus •
Guava • Apple • Sunflower •Berries • Safflower •Pear •Mango •Plum.
Different Ways To Improve Pasture For Bees:
1) Seeding agricultural honey cultures and planting honey trees and
bushes in orchards. 2) Oilseed and red clover, phacelia and
sunflower 2) Planting honey trees and bushes in protective areas,
beside roads, water sources, in populated places, in unused area, in
forests. Apple, acacia, pagoda tree, wild and sweet chestnut, silver
leaf maple, maple. 3) Improving natural pastures by over seeding
grass and fertilizing. Adding phosphorus-potassium fertilizer (up to
increase of 90%) and by nitrogen 18%.

15. 4) Including honey producing plants in annual and perennial
cultures for feeding cattle (growing it with other cultures). Corn
with sunflower, corn with annual clover, sweet clover and alfalfa.
5) Planting of honey plants on an unused soil, among the fruits and
for green fertilizer. Mustard and sweet clover.
6) Prolonging blooming by planting plants on several occasions,
planting before winter and harvesting on several occasions.
Mustard, buckwheat, clover and white clover.
7) Immediately planting after harvesting of crop. Wheat to cattle
food or green fertilizer. 8) Best agricultural measures.

16. They have evolved branched hairs on which they can carry upto 5 million pollen
grains and intricate pollen basket
Potential is very high – member of a colony may visit 100 flowers/trip & make 4
million trips/yr
A bee has to visit 32,000 flowers to collect 1 lb of honey and traverse a distance
equivalent to 3 times the circumference of the earth (40075 km)
 Population can be increased immensely- may attain 30-50 thousand
Never ceasing instinct to gather nectar and pollen
Food requirement of a colony/yr is 100-150 kg of honey and 20-30kg pollen
Individual bees learn when various flowers open and produce most nectar and
can remember opening hour of 7- 10 different spp. of flowers.
Generally one bee collect nectar or pollen from only one sp. of plants.
Characteristics of honeybee which makes them superior pollinator over others

17. Bee pollinated flowers have evolved such that a visiting bee has to brush
against the flower’s anther bearing pollen or
there may a specialized mechanism to release the anthers to spring up or
down to cover the bees with pollen
Each hair has a branched structure that enables it to carry profuse pollen
grains (5 million)
Characteristics of bees

18. Role of bees in sustainable agriculture and environment
Sus. Agric. necessitates reorientation of existing production technologies which involves
substantial use of chemicals, fertilizers, biopesticides, irrigation, machineries.
 A shift towards biologically based agriculture is necessary for increasing food
productivity.
Emphasis be given on full utilization of environmentally friendly and safe underutilized
resources
One of such is honeybees in cross- pollination - it is cheapest and most effective
Cultivated crops do not produce seeds/fruits without cross-pollination by insects/bees
The actual value of pollination is much greater (15-20 times) than the value of honey,
wax and other products
In developing countries the role of honeybees in enhancing productivity in different
crops eg., fruits, nuts, vegetables, pulses and oil and forage crops is underestimated.

19. Crops dependent on bees for pollination
Sl. No. Categories of crops Name of crops
1. Vegetables Pumpkin, cucumber, carrot, raddish, cabbage,
cauliflower, knolkhol, onion, soybean,
bottlegourd, ridgegourd, etc.
2. Oilseeds Sarson, toria, sunflower, sesame, safflower,
linseed.
3. Pulses Urad, mung, tur, beans, pea, cowpea
4. Forage legumes lucern, berseem, cloves
5. Fruit crops Orange, apple, peach, almond, cherry, grapes,
lemon, blackberry, strawberry, craneberry,
jamun, etc.
6. Other crops Buckwheat, coffee, cotton, tobacco, sweet
cloces.
7. Plants of forest
importance
Wild cherry, soapnut, eucalyptus, willow,
magnolia, Azadirachta sp.
It’s estimated that 80% of pollination of fruits & seeds in USA is accomplished by
honey bees. At least 50% agril. crops are dependent on honey bees for their
production.

20.  Crops No.
 Apple 2-3
 Almond 5-8
 Citrus 2-3
 Coconut 2-3
 C. flower 5
 Grape 2-3
 Guava 2-3
 Mango 2-3
 Crops No.
 Pumpkin 2-3
 Mustard 3-5
 Onion 2-8
 W. melon 1-5
 S. flower 2-4
 Cotton 2-6*
 Spr. Broccoli 5
* In cotton for each of 10 open flowers one
bee is required to pollinate & so, 5-12
colonies per ha is needed.
In India, 1/3 area of the total cultivable land (160 Mil. ha) is under
entomophilous crops and at a modest rate of 3 colonies/ha, the no. of
colonies reqd. is 160 Mil ; we have only 1 mil. colony.
So there is enough scope for apiculture.

21.  Crops % increase
Oilseeds
 Linseed 2-49
 Mustard 13-222
 Niger 17
 Saf.flower 4-114
 Sunflower 21-3400
Vegetables
 Cabbage 100-300
 Carrot 9-135
 Onion 354-9878
 Asparagus 12405
 Turnip 100-125
 Crops % increase
Fruits
Apple 180-6950
Citrus 7-223
 Bl.currrrant 81-2200
 Cucumber 21-6700
 & Squash
 Grapes 23-54
 Litchi 4538-10,246
 Pears 240-6014
 Plums 536-1655
Guava 12
Others
Coffee 17-39
Cotton 2-50
Field crops 6.8-90

22.  Solitary bees play great role in wild
plants
 They also pollinate many cultivated
plants
 Their no. vary from yr to yr and place
to place
 In countries/ states where industrial
farming dominates, solitary bee
population is limited as their natural
habitat is destroyed
 From these bees, no honey can be
obtained.
 First use of these bees started in
Japan because most of the
honeybees were killed during World
War-II
 Although, in Egypt, farmers have long
been used rolled straw or bundles of
straw mats as artificial nests of sol.
bees
 Most commonly used solitary
bees:
 Alfalfa leaf cutter bees-
Megachile rotundata
 Osmia cornifrons and other
species
 Alkali bees- Nomia melanderi
 Bumble bees- Bombus spp.

23. Megachile rotundata

24. Pesticide management to reduce bee losses
Do not apply any pesticides unless the crop is heavily infested and its application is
worthwhile.
If application is necessary, apply only those which are non toxic or less harmful to
bees.
Avoid application of pesticides to a crop when it is in blooming stage.
The pesticide should be a safe formulation and it will only target the pest and
provide safety to bees.
Dusts are more harmful.
Emulsifiables and water soluble concentrates are safest to bees.
Do not use a micro-encapsulated insecticides.
Granual formulations are safest for bees.

25. Treatment and care of poisoned colonies
Basic principle in the management of bee poisoning---
To avoid the exposure of honey bees to toxic effects.
May be achieved jointly by the bee keepers and the farmers.
Following may be considered:
Bee colonies should be maintained where use and drift of
pesticide is minimum
Close co-operation with farmers to avoid irrational use of
pesticides
Feeding of colonies with sugar syrup at the time of pesticide
application to reduce bee foraging
The colonies should be shifted if crop is sprayed and poisoning
persists.