THE ROLE OF HONEYBEES AS POLLINATORS ON ONION (ALLIUM CEPA L.) SEED PRODUCTION

Flower abortion was considerably reduced when honey bee colonies were used to pollinate onion under cages.
Seed yield per seed-head was significantly higher as a result of the significant increase in flowers that set seeds; seed yield per plot was also increased over open pollination.
However, the number of seeds per capsules remained the same for both bee and open pollination.

Failure of the onion flower to set full-capacity seeds seems to be associated with some other genetical and/or physiological factors.

Onion seed fields well fertilized would require honey bees to affect better seed setting and higher seed yields.

VIII African Symposium on Horticultural Crops

I.H. Ahmed, A.A. Abdalla

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1984.143.12