1Department of Natural Resource Management and Conservation, Forest College and Research Institute, Mulugu, Siddipet, 502279, Telangana, India
2Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
3Division of Entomology, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, 173230, Himachal Pradesh, India
*Email: waseem.fastidious@gmail.com (corresponding author): Orcid Id 0000-0002-7242-373
Online published on 8 August, 2025.
This study investigated the impact of fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin on the foraging behaviour of Apis dorsata in onion. Prior to treatment, foraging activity was 16.11 and 16.88 bees/ m2/ 10 min which dropped to 0.88 and 1.11 bees/ m2/ 10 min after the first day application of fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin, respectively. Similarly, fipronil and lambda-cyhalothrin reduced foraging rates to 8.83 and 9.24/ m2/ 10 min. Foraging speed decreased significantly on the first day for both treatments but gradually recovered; fipronil-treated bees averaged 4.33 sec/flower initially and returned to 10.16 sec/ flower by day 6, while lambda-cyhalothrin-treated bees showed a decrease from 16.66 sec/ flower to 2.66 sec/ flower, stabilizing at 8.83 sec/ flower by day 5. Foraging rates varied with fipronil-treated plants showing a peak on day 1 (9.66 flowers/ min) before normalizing, while lambda-cyhalothrin-treated plants initially increased to 8.33 flowers/ min, then declined to 6.50 flowers/ min by day 14.
Non target species, Insect pollinators, Apis dorsata, Foraging, Fipronil, Lambda-cyhalothrin, Olfactory behaviour, Chronic exposure, Contact exposure, Biodiversity
