Effects of honeybees pollination on sunflower seed quality and yield attributes

The current study examined the effects of honeybee pollination on sunflower seed and yield quality. It was conducted in two separate sites. Two treatments, honeybee pollinated and open pollinated sunflower plants assigned in a RCBD with three replicate were used. Honeybee pollination improved Seed viability in terms of germination percentage (P≤0.0001), Days to 50% germination (P≤ 0.0008), Germination rate (P≤ 0.025). Seedling plant height (P≤0.003), seedling root length (P≤0.04) and seedling shoot/root ratio (P≤0.02) were positively affected by honey bee pollination, Pollination by honey bee significantly enhanced the yield attributes such as head diameter (P≤0.000), dry weight of 100 seeds (P≤0.000), 100 seed volume (P≤0.000) and number of seeds per kg seeds (P≤0.01). Seed moisture content varied significantly (P≤0.03) between the two treatments whereas seed total oil content (%) did not vary significantly. The study recommends that sunflower producers establish honeybee colonies adjacent to their farms to gain extra yield and income from bee honey products and pollination. Keywords: Honeybee, pollination, sunflower, Sudan, West Kordofan