Efficacy of insect pollinators on seed production of two onion (Allium cepa) varieties, Gezira state, sudan

Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred to the female reproductive organs of a plant, thereby enabling fertilization to take place. Hence, pollination is a keystone process in both human-managed and natural terrestrial ecosystems. Over 80% of the crops grown in Europe are dependent on insect pollination. Onion ( Allium cepa L.) is ranked second only to tomatoes in terms of total annual world production. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of insect pollinators on seed production of two onion ( A. cepa) varieties (Baftaim and Balady). Also, to identify the insect pollinators diversity associated with the onion crop in the location. The study was carried out at Wad Medani at the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (Open pollination), University of Gezira. Data on seed production and assessing the seed yield of onion in tested varieties under insect pollinators. Also, identify the insect pollinator diversity associated with the onion crop in the location. An experiment was laid out on a Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) with four different treatments and three replications at the site in the cropping season of 2019-2020. The result revealed that there were significant differences among treatments. Baftaim and Balady varieties (Open pollination), showed the highest seed yield weight of 5.33 g/Umbel and 4.33 g/Umbel, respectively, while the lowest seed yield was recorded from self-pollination with 0.36 g/Umbel from variety Baftaim, followed by Balady (0.22g/Umbel). On the other hand, the thousand-seed weight of Baftaim ranged from 3.16 to 4.44 g. The variety Baftaim with open pollination recorded the highest numbers (4.44 g), followed by the Balady variety (4.28 g) on the two types of pollination, while there is no significant difference between Balady and Baftaim statistically in self-pollination type. In the experimental farm site. Three groups of pollinators, viz., hymenopterans, lepidopterans, and dipterans, were recorded during the study. The total number of insect pollinators visited was 63.00. Among pollinators, hymenopterans were the main pollinating group, constituting 90.50%, followed by lepidopterans (6.33%) and dipterans (3.17%). The study proved the effectiveness of insect pollinators for onion seed production and recommended the importance of conserving those insect pollinators.