NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
LACHOO MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (AUTONOMOUS), JODHPUR
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
Prof B S Rajpurohit
Vice-Chancellor
JAI NARAIN VYAS UNIVERSITY
Jodhpur 342 001 (Rajasthan), India
Message
It is a matter of great pleasure to learn that the Departement of Zoology and Environmental
Science, Lachoo Memorial College of Science & Technology (Autonomous), Jodhpur is
organizing National Conference on Recent Trends in Applied Entomology (NCRTAE2014) sponsored by University Grants Commission from January 10-11, 2014.
I congratulate the organizers, staff and students of the College for this academic activity.
The subject will be deliberated by renowned subject experts which will throw light on
different aspects of the applied entomology.
I hope this conference will provide a good opportunity to the academicians, scientists,
agricultural experts, research scholars, students, etc. from all over India to get deeper
insight into the subject.
I convey my warm wishes to the organizers for great success in their endeaver.
(Prof. B.S. Rajpurohit)
LACHOO MEMORIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (AUTONOMOUS), JODHPUR
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
APOIDEAN BIODIVERSITY ON SOLANUM MELONGENA L. IN WESTERN
RAJASTHAN
1
Santosh K.Charan, 2Abhishek Rajpurohit, 3Rajiv K.Gupta, 4Suresh K.Naval
1
Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur
2
Department of Zoology, Lachoo Memorial College of Science and
Technology,(Autonomous) Jodhpur (Rajasthan)
3&4
Department of Zoology, J.N.V.University, Jodhpur
ABSTRACT
Egg plant (Solanum melongena) is an economically commercial crop. It is hardy plant
compared to other vegetables grown in India. Because of its hardiness it can be
successfully grown in dry conditions of the Jodhpur district under the rained
conditions or with minimum irrigation facilities. Brinjal is highly productive and are
usually finds its place as a poor man’s crop. It is being consumed as a cooked
vegetable in various ways. Repetitive collections for around five years (2002-2007)
from all over the western Rajasthan have resulted in the collections of 16 species of
the bees on its flowerings. These are so far identified belongs to genus Amegilla
Friese(03sp.), Apis Linnaeus(05 sp.), Ceratina Latreille(02 sp.), Megachile
Latreille(02 sp.), Halictus Latreille(01 sp.), Nomia Latreille(01 sp.), Trigona jurine(01
sp.) and Thyreus Panzer(01 sp.)
The Egg plant (Solanum melongena), like many other solanaceae, has an unusual
pollination mechanism i.e. the tubular anthers must be vigorously vibrated in order to
release the pollen. Bees must be vibrated their wing vigorously in order to release the
pollen.
Key words: Solanum melongena, Apoidea, Bees, Pollination, Western Rajasthan.
INTRODUCTION
Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) also called aubergine is tender perennial plant of
the nightshade family (Solanaceae) that originates from warm India and Chine regions
[Lawande and Chavan 1998]. Egg plant requires a warm climate and is grown
extensively in eastern and southern Asia including India. Eggplant (Solanum
melongena) is an economically important commercial vegetable crop. It is a hardy
plant compared to other vegetables grown in India. Because of the hardiness it can be
successfully grown in very dry conditions of Jodhpur district under rain-fed
conditions or with minimum irrigation facilities. The plant prefers light (sandy),
medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. It cannot grow
in the shade. It requires moist soil. Brinjal plant can be kept more than one year in
productive stage by punning at the end of the season. Other important character of this
crop is wide range of colour and shapes of the fruits. In Brinjal crop fruit colour varies
pure white to dark purple or black in different varieties. These characters made Brinjal
very popular vegetable in the South Asian countries. Brinjal is highly productive and
usually finds its place as a poor man's crop. It is being consumed as a cooked
vegetable in various ways.
The egg plant is used mainly as a food crop, but it does also have various
medicinal uses that make it a valuable addition to the diet. In particular the fruit helps
to lower blood cholesterol levels and is suitable as part of a diet to help regulate high
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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
blood pressure (Chevallier 1996). The fruit is anti haemorrhoidal and hypotensive
(Chiej 1984). It is also used as an antidote to poisonous mushrooms (Duke and
Ayensu 1985). It is bruised with vinegar and used as a poultice for cracked nipples,
abscesses and haemorrhoids (Stuart). The leaves are narcotic (Chopra., Nayar and
Chopra 1986). A decoction is applied to discharging sores and internal haemorrhages.
The ashes of the peduncle are used in the treatment of intestinal haemorrhages, piles
and toothache.
The fruit should not be eaten raw (Huxley, 1992). It can be baked,
stewed or added to soups, curries etc (Facciola 1990). The fruit is said to be very
nutritious (Chiej, 1984). It is a good source of vitamin C and potassium (Allardice,
1993). The fruit can be up to 20cm long in cultivated plants (Huxley, 1992).
Linsley & Cazier (1963) had done observations on bees which take
pollen from plants of the genus Solanum. The eggplant (Solanum melongena), like
many other solanaceae, has an unusual pollination mechanism i.e. the tubular anthers
must be vigorously vibrated in order to release the pollen. Bees must be vibrated their
wings vigorously in order to release the pollen (Batra, 1977). Many bees working on
these flowers make a distinct buzzing sound without moving their wings, Xylocopa
fenestrata, Amegilla delicata, A. subcoerulea, Nomia callichlora, N.oxybeloides and
Lasioglossum cattulum obtained pollen in this manner. Batra (1968a) suggested that
the flowers were also visited by another Xylocopa sp., 1 Pithitis sp., 1 Amegilla sp.,
Apis dorsata, A. florea, 1 Megachile and 1 Nomia species.
Studies concerning to the bee species composition on the Eggplant was
carried out on 9 different locations of the Sri Lanka by Wijayasinghe et. al. (2001).
They collected 21 bee species visited the flowers of Brinjal however; Amegilla sp. and
Apis cerana were the most common. Amegilla sp., Lasioglossum sp. 3, Nomia
oxybeloides, Nomia sp. 2 and Xylocopa sp. were observed to buzz-pollinate the
flowers of eggplant. All the bee species that visited the eggplant were observed to
touch the stigma of flowers. Further Batra (1967) listed about thirteen species of bees
involving in the pollination of Brinjal or Egg plant.
This paper presents the bees which visit Solanum melongena in western
Rajasthan. In India most of the pollination studies have been restricted exclusively on
honey bees and their pollinated cultivated plants on the contrary an absolute overlook
has been observed with regard to other bees. One may find rare references concerning
non- Apis bee pollination biology. The previous works have been related more on the
comments on listing of honey bees on various crops ( Burkill, 1906; Howard et al.,
1920). Some significant works that further detailed pollination aspect need to be
mentioned here are: Mohammad (1935) and Rahman (1940) concerning Sarson, Toria
and Cotton; Batra (1968 and 1977), Mattu et al. (1989) etc. on honey bee related
aspects on various crops, Dulta and Verma (1987) gave a comparative description for
various aspects of pollination on Apple crops. Gupta and Yadav(2001) recorded a
total of 64 species of bees (Apoidea) on four cultivated crops. They described crop
rotation and various aspects of population dynamics of bees however, the work was
limited for the region of eastern Rajasthan and adjacent Uttar Pradesh. Elsewhere
several studies have been made, such as: Free (1960, 1964, 1970, 1973, 1975a&b,
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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
1980, 1993& 1998) made an excellent presentation on studies on pollination of
around 70 crops; many more such as works of Free& Ferguson(1980),
Free&Williams(1976 a&b), Free et al. (1975) are a few more to mention here. The
famous book of McGregor (1976) is being updated regularly and is available online.
Currie et al. (1990) made comparison between pollination activities on leafcutting
bees and honeybees on beans (Vicia faba L.), Hogendoorn et al. (2010) published
their results for the pollination studies on Tomato.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study Site: The study area was located in and adjacent Jodhpur in western Rajasthan,
India. As per Global Positioning System (GPS), Jodhpur is situated at 2618.381 N
Latitude and 7304.514 E longitudes. Climatic condition of Jodhpur is of an extreme
type, with the variations in temperature range being very high. Weather in Jodhpur,
Rajasthan is dry and hot, a typical desert weather whereas the average annual rainfall
is approximately 32 cm. In summer, the maximum temperature remains around 42C
and the minimum temperature is around 37 C. In winter the maximum temperature is
around 27.5C. Jodhpur is bright and sunny throughout the year. The study was
conducted during the span of around five years (2002-2007). Regular and periodical
field surveys were conducted, from various localities of Jodhpur and collection of
sample during September, 2002 to October, 2007.The collection of bees was
continuously made from 06 selected farms and wild habitats located in villages like
Marwar Mathania, Osian, Tinwari, Manaklaoe and Salawas of Jodhpur district. Bees
were collected by sweeping an insect net across the flowers as the collector moved
through the field. Bee samples were collected from 8 or 9 Am up to 5 or 6 PM on
every day of the field visit. However, at time first author made field visit at sunrise
and at sunset to make observations for extended activities of bees, if any. Collected
bees were instantly killed using Benzene fumes in a killing bottle. They were brought
to the laboratory, remoisten and properly spread before each one was identified.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The eggplant flowers are hermaphrodite; they are single or arranged in inflorescences
composed of 2–7 flowers each. The eggplant flowers are quite large 3–5 cm in
diameter. The purple or pink flower of eggplant attracted large number of bees
including honey bees. The pollinators started to visit around 8:00 AM (IST) and their
number was highest around 12:00 PM (IST). During specified collection periods,
following bee species were collected on Solanum melongena crop:Table 1. List of bee species found on
RAJASTHAN
Solanum melongena L. IN WESTERN
Order
Family
Subfamily
Tribe
Genus and Species
No. Of
Bees
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Anthophorini
Amegilla
Smith
confusa
10
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Anthophorini
Amegilla niveocinta
Smith
11
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Anthophorini
Amegilla zonata
11
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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT TRENDS IN APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY (10-11 JAN 2014) PROCEEDINGS
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Apini
Apis
Fabricius
cerana
12
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Apini
Apis
Fabricius
dorsata
11
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Apini
Apis
Fabricius
florea
20
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Melectini
Thyreus sp.
11
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Apinae
Meliponini
Trigona iridipennis
Smith
16
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Xylocopinae
Xylocopini
Xylocopa fenestrata
(Fabricius)
10
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Xylocopinae
Xylocopini
Xylocopa
Westwood
nasalis
10
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Xylocopinae
Xylocopini
Ceratina binghami
Cockerell
12
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Xylocopinae
Xylocopini
Ceratina
sexmaculata Smith
10
Hymenoptera
Halictidae
Halictinae
Halictini
Halictus
Smith
9
Hymenoptera
Halictidae
Nomiinae
Nomini
Nomia elliotii Smith
10
Hymenoptera
Megachilidae
Megachilinae
Megachilini
Megachile argentata
Fabricius
10
Hymenoptera
Megachilidae
Megachilinae
Megachilini
Megachile
cephalotes Smith
10
torridus
Eggplant is a self-pollinating plant, although it can be cross-pollinated (6–10%) that
results from transferring pollen by insects such as ants, thrips, and bees [George 1985,
Lawande and Chavan 1998]. So far no studies concerned to bee species composition
on Solanum melongena in western Rajasthan has been done. Present study is the first
attempt to explore the pollinator bees on this crop from this area. As Eggplant is one
of the major vegetable crops in the western Rajasthan, a serious need was felt to study
the native Apoidean pollinators of this crop for pollination requirements. Sixteen
species of bees were recorded visiting tree in bloom during observations. Maximum
number of visitors of bee is Apis florea Fabricius, followed by Trigona iridipennis
Smith and minimum time visitor bees are Halictus torridus Smith followed by Nomia
elliotii Smith.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors wish to thank R.K.Naval, P.Tiwari, S. Sivdas, J.Saini, and S.K.Rao for
making collections from all over the western Rajasthan. Gratitude is extended to
Head, Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan Jaipur for providing necessary
facilities. Thanks further extended to the University Grants Commision, New Delhi
for providing Research Fellowship (NET-JRF) to the first Author.
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