Studies of some Insecticides and Bio Pesticides on Foraging Behaviour of Honey Bees in Mustard (Brassica juncea L.)

The foraging behaviour of honey bees viz., Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis cerana indica and Apis mellifera were recorded on mustard crop. The observations on visiting of honey bees showed that the neem product, achook was found least toxic to honey bees due to their higher visits i.e. 3.00, 4.33, 4.33, 6.33 and 6.66 per three minutes per sq. m area just after, after 24, 48, 72 hours and after 5 days of application followed by bioneem i.e. 2.00, 3.00, 3.66, 5.66 and 6.33 visits, respectively. Nimbicidine also provided 1.33, 2.33, 3.00, 5.33 and 5.66 visits of honey bees 3 minutes in one square metre area in comparison to rest of the treatments. While maximum visits were recorded in untreated plot i.e. 6.66, 7.00, 7.33, 8.00 and 7.33 visits. Thus, achook and bioneem were found safer to honey bees and recommended to the farmers for the control of aphids (Lipaphis erysimi) in mustard crop.