author(s)
HK Wankhede, SR Kulkarni and SA Pawar

abstract
Studies were conducted at PGI farm, MPKV, Rahuri to study the effects of bee attractants on foraging activity of honey bees Apis mellifera and Apis cerana indica for enhancing seed production of cucumber. The variety used in such research was Himangi which is released from MPKV, Rahuri. Ten treatments viz., T₁ - Open pollination, T_2- Pollination Without Insect, T₃ - Sugar solution 5 per cent, T₄ - Sagar solution 10 per cent, T₅ -Sugarcane Juice 5 per cent, T₆ - Sugarcane Juice 10 per cent, T₇ - Jaggery solution 5 per cent, T₈ - Jaggery solution 10 per cent, T₉ - Molasses 5 per cent and T₁₀ - Molasses 10 per cent were used for such experiment. The result revealed that a day before the first spray, the number of bee visiting the cucumber flower ranged from 2.13 to 2.31 bees/m²/min in Apis mellifera and 2.11 to 2.21 in Apis cerana indica and do not differ significantly among the treatments. A day after the first spray, jaggery solution 10 per cent attracted 3.78 bees/m²/min in case of A. mellifera and 4.10 bees/m²/min in case of A.cerana indica was significantly superior in attracting higher number of bees. After second spray, the effectiveness of attractants was maximum on 3rd day after spray (50 % flowering). Sugar solution 5 per cent, jaggery solution 5 per cent, sugarcane juice 10 per cent and molasses 10 per cent were the next best treatment in attracting more number of bees and open sprayed with bee attractants marginally enhanced of seeds/fruit, test weight and fruit quality.