Lesser honeybee likely to effecting apple production

Shimla, Apr 26 (UNI) Days after hail damaged apple crop in Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh, the horticulturists say lesser population of pollinating insects in the orchids was likely to result in lower apple produce this year.

According to preliminary reports from across the apple producing belts, fruit set rates are low this year as compared to last year and was likely to lead to low apple produce.

The problem was noticed last year when the population of bees, important pollinating agents for fruit trees, was considered low but this year the orchard owners have become alarmed as the apple bloom in nearing completion and yet the bees are not there despite the weather and temperature conditions being favourable.

''We have a low fruit set, this year too,'' says Govind Mehta, an apple orchardist from Kotgarh in Shimla district.

''Like last year, there simply are not enough bees in the orchards, even though the trees had a healthy bloom and the temperatures are moderate,'' he said.

Apple is an insect dependent pollination crop and if the farmers are reporting lesser populations of bees, then indiscriminate use of pesticides could be a possible reason for driving them away from the blooming orchards, says Dr Karkara, associate director of the fruit research station at Mashobra.

He said other than orchards, a lot of wild flowers bloom in this part of the year in the hills and the pollinating insects could be preferring pesticide free environs over apple trees.

By March end, commercial beekeepers relocate from the plains to orchard country in the mountains and rented out hives to growers for pollination of fruit crops.

''Without insect pollination, the rate of fruit set drops dramatically and there is no scientific method or technology which can replace this natural process,'' he says.

He said that though hardly anyone from the farming community had reported about lesser bees but there were reports about beekeepers claiming a decline in healthy hive populations in the state.

The state had recorded an apple production of 5.27 lakh tonne in 2004-05, which peaked to 5.40 lakh tonne in 2005-06 but fell sharply to 2.68 lakh tonne in 2006-07.

With orchard owners noticing lesser bees, most are apprehensive that chances of a bounty crop already stand dashed for the year.

UNI