The impact of leafcutting bee (Megachile minutissima, Megachilidae, Hymenoptera) (Radoszkowski, 1876) artificial nest sites on seed production of alfalfa, Ismailia, Egypt
pp. 33-35
Alfalfa, Medicago sativa (L, 1753), is a high quality forage and green manure crop that originated in the Middle East. Currently there are 80-120,000 hectare of alfalfa planted in Egypt, and acreage is rising each year especially in the newly reclaimed lands. Th e leafcutt ing bees are very important pollinator of alfalfa, artifi cial nests were prepared and transferred to experimental fi eld. Th e experimental field was divided into three main parts close to the nest (20 m), near to the nest (30 m), and far from the nest (40 m). 12 plants were labeled for each location and subjected for counting total number of open fl owers, pods, seeds, weight of seeds and weight of seeds per each plant. The maximum high production of alfalfa seeds was in the plants so close to the nest then production becomes less due to the distance from artifi cial nests. Th e average number of pods was 17.25; average number of seeds /100 pods was 288.5, dry weight of 100 seeds was 0.25 g and average weight of seed per each plant was 5.42 g .
Key words: leafcutt ing bees, artifi cial nesting, alfalfa pollination, seed production
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