Species composition of major pollinators in agricultural agrocenoses

Zheko Radev, Stoyan Georgiev, Nedyalka Palagacheva, Rositsa Mladenova, Plamen Zorovski, Yanko Dimitrov

Abstract: In the recent years, the number of insect pollinators has declined significantly. This, on the one hand, is explained by urbanization, which reduces the blooming resources available to pollinators and on the other, the widespread use of pesticides for pests control in industrial farming. Considering this, the preservation and restoration of plant strips in and around arable land is essential to provide a wide variety of flowering species, which serve as food resources, nesting and hibernate sites for pollinators. With the aim of associating the earlier pollinators in the crop, it was betting field experience with different grass mixtures of different species composition, and time of sowing at the Experimental field of the Agricultural University in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. From 1055 numbers of pollinators registered in grass mixtures, the highest number was from genus Megachile – 500 number,honey bee(Apis mellifera L.) – 303 and Flower flies – 214.

Keywords: agrocenoses; color; flowers; mixed grass; pollinators

Date published: 2020-02-27