Impact of Different Pollinator on Seed Production of Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa L.) CV. RL-88

An experiment was conducted and designed with two objectives firstly to find out the efficiency of insects visiting to flowers of alfalfa and secondly how it’s affecting the rate of seed production. The experimental design used for the study was Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replication with gross plot size: (2.1 m x 2.0 m=4.20 m ²⁾ during kharif and rabi season. It has been seen that the alfalfa flower was visited by approximately 10 species so, the frequency of pollinator visiting flower was tested after 1 hr interval from 6.00 am till 5.00 pm. Further the impact of different pollinator on time of anthesis, anther dehiscence, pollen viability and stigma receptivity was tested after 2hr of interval from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm. The results found form the data that the A. dorsata (Time spent per flower by A. dorsata (10.5 ± 7.10 in kharif and 19.00 ± 14.15 in summer ), A. florea (Time spent per flower by A. florea (8.00 ± 4.37 in kharif and 13.08 ± 8.42 in rabi / summer ) and Xylocopa sp. (Time spent per flower by Xylocopa sp. 8.41 ± 5.01 in kharif and 11.16 ± 5.56 in summer ). These are the most frequent visitor and efficient pollinator of alfalfa flowers both in kharif and rabi / summer compared to other Lepidopteran pollinators Five treatments were designed as control plot, hand pollination, pollination by Aphis dorsata , Aphis florea and Xylocopa Spp . The effect of pollination on seed production of alfa-alfa were investigated using Number of pod set, % pod set, Total No. of seeds/ pod, Filled seeds/ pod, % filled seed. The data were collected from two different seasons analysis was carried out by considering major aspects using spss software.The results of seed yield indicate that interaction between treatment groups and seasons was significant at 5%. The highest seed yield was observed in flowers visited with Apis dorsata (92%), followed by Xylocopa sp. and other treatment . The results of this experiment show that Apis dorsata is recommended as an alternative pollinator to honeybee and other pollinator for alfalfa in commercial seed production.