Pollination and Foraging Potential of European Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris on Tomato Crop under Greenhouse System

Commercial production of tomato crop in glasshouse needs proper pollination practices. Bumblebees (for example, Bombus terrestris) serve to increase the tomato in quantitative and qualitative way for better economic outcome. The present study was performed in high glasshouse tomato crops with Grandella and Cherry tomato cultivars under controlled environmental conditions. Self, manual and bumblebee pollination methods with different parameters were studied with bumblebee foragers trafficking from hives to flowers for first, fourth and seventh week with foraging time per flower for effective pollination. Effective foraging was observed till 7th week of observation and visitation rate was significantly more in Cherry as compared to Grandella cultivar with more visitation rate per flower. Significant increase in both qualitative as well as quantitative parameters was observed with increased fruit size, roundness and numbers per truss. Bumblebees helped to decrease the need for manual pollination, increased yield and quality of the green house tomato crops. Importance of bumblebees and selection of cultivar for good crop under high tunnel cropping systems is suggested.