Bumble bee (Bombus haemorrhoidalis Smith) - a potential pollinator in bell pepper under protected cultivation

Abstract

The laboratory reared bumble bee (B. haemorrhoidalis Smith) queens used for pollination resulted in increase in number of fruits per plant (3.77%), fruit weight (24.60%), fruit length (13.51%), fruit breadth (21.52%), healthy fruits (23.84%), seed number (113.64%), 1000 seed weight (g) (5.44%) and fruit yield per (89.42%) in bell pepper over control suggesting that bumble bee pollination is effective in improving bell pepper fruit yield and quality.