Raj Kumar Thakur

• PhD
• Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry

The floral biology of Gloriosa superba L. including nectar studies, diversity and foraging behaviour of insect visitors emphasizing significance of honey bee pollination was investigated. The scarlet red flowers born on pedicel (10.32 cm) having 6.69 x 1.45 cm tepal dimension with maximum pollen viability (88.40%) on first day after anthesis and ma...

A survey focusing on the importance of indigenous knowledge to conserve A. cerana for exploring opportunities in business with bees and also to preserve traditional knowledge was conducted at three different altitudes of the valley viz., Jogindernagar (1220 m), Multhan (1852 m), Chelra De Malahn (2117 m). The observations revealed that the cavit...

Honey bees are affected by various diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and mites. Of these, the Thai Sac Brood virus (TSBV) disease attacking Indian honey bee has been posing threat to hives of Apis cerana indica F. in different parts of Southern India. The virus is caused by picorna-like virus characterized under Iflaviridae family. The sy...

Insect pollinators are indispensable in global agriculture for their valuable pollination services. In managed pollination honey bees, bumble bees, stingless bees and megachilid bees of genus Osmia are most commonly introduced in fields /orchards at the blooming period of the crop in open as well as in protected cultivation for pollination services...

The present study was on pollinator diversity and foraging behavior of Apis mellifera Linnaeus and Apis cerana Fabricius on Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa Linnaeus subspecies chinensis) grown under different farming systems. A total of 19 insects belonging to 16 genera under 7 families and 3 orders were recorded on Chinese cabbage. Among all insect...

Fiber-reinforced composites have established as a high-performance composite of modern advanced structures in various sectors such as automotive, aerospace, and marine industries. Non-conventional machining processes are preferred for the ease of manufacturing operations, which incorporates the machining of high strength and anisotropic material. N...

For sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

The present study on the foraging initiation, foraging cessation and foraging duration day of the pollinators was accomplished to determine the arduous pollinators of guava and to create conscience about the wise use of pesticides during the specified time of blooming orchards. The foraging initiation and cessation of pollinators was recorded on su...

The present studies were carried out to know the activity and effect of stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis in pollination of cucumber cultivated greenhouses located in Orchard, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (11.01 o N 76.93 o E, 427m above MSL) and Srivilliputhur (9°30N 77°38, 137m above MSL) of southern India. Two stingless bee...

Research was conducted to know the activity and effect of stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith in pollination of cucumber cultivated in greenhouse in Department of Agricultural entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (11.01oN 76.93oE, 427m above MSL) of southern India. Two stingless bee (Tetragonula iridipennis) colonies w...

Field experiment was conducted in Mango orchard to understand the pollination behavior of stingless bees on mango inflorescence in Thiruppathur of Vellore district in Tamil Nadu, South India (12.51 N, 78.57 E) from December 2016 to February 2017. Two stingless bee colonies with approximately 1500 worker bees per colony were placed in the field and...

The Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore organized beekeeping training to the tribal people living in three district of Tamil Nadu namely Erode, Tiruppur and Niligiris recently and also supplied 90 bee Boxes in all the regions put to gather. The programmes were arranged with the financial support of...

Honey bees are affected by various diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and mites. Of these, the Thai Sac Brood virus (TSBV) disease attacking Indian honey bee has been posing threat to hives of Apis cerana indica F. in different parts of Southern India. The virus is caused by picorna-like virus characterized under Iflaviridae family. The sy...

A total number of 20 insects belonging to 18 genera under 10 families and 5 orders were recorded from cherry bloom. Among all insects, Apis mellifera, A. cerana and Episyrphus balteatus were most frequent visitors. Other insect visitors trapped in florescent traps were 0.83/trap in the orchard. A. mellifera showed decreasing trend in its activity f...

A total number of 20 insects belonging to 18 genera under 10 families and 5 orders were recorded from cherry bloom. Among all insects, Apis mellifera, A. cerana and Episyrphus balteatus were most frequent visitors. Other insect visitors trapped in florescent traps were 0.83/trap in the orchard. A. mellifera showed decreasing trend in its activity f...

Pollination potential of bumble bee Bombus haemorrhoidalis Smith was studied along with their rearing. Bumble bee queens were trapped from different flora during spring. During 2009-2010, eleven queens raised their progeny successfully in confinement (incubator) and three colonies raised their progeny for the first time under room temperature (cont...

Onion (Allium cepa L.) does not produce quality seed if insects do not visit the flowers. In mountainous regions of India, availability of natural pollinators has been a major drawback in seed production. Studies were conducted on the abundance of different natural pollinators and on the effect of bee pollination on quantity and quality of onion se...

Recent studies have proven defensive abilities of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) against the ectoparasitic mite, Var- roa spp. For a quantitative genetic study of individual uncapping and removing of Varroa infested brood cells, 1436 individually marked bees from 22 unrelated colonies from three different genetic groups were continuously obs...

A 25 year old man male presented with a lump in the left side of the abdomen. Ultrasonography revealed an echogenic retroperitoneal mass with hyperechoic areas within it suggestive of bone. CT scan confirmed the presence of a large retroperitoneal mass with bone within it. On exploration there was a large encapsulated retroperitoneal lump. There wa...

The method of using Infra-red photography was found very useful for conducting long-term behavioristic studies of honey bees against Varroa. The photographs show the defensive ability of this species and solved the earlier suspicion of direct damage. In total 30% and 26.6% artificially infested cells were uncapped and removed in two experiments. Th...