OAR@ICRISATInsect Pollinators in CGMS Hybrid Seed Production of Cajanus cajanZLiauthorNLiangauthorMHongauthorK BSaxenaauthorXLiuauthorXZongauthorPigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is the only shrubby food legume crop in the world, with drought tolerance. Insect pollinators are essential on flower pollination in CGMS pigeonpea lines, and their species, abundance, visiting frequency are the key factors for pigeonpea hybrid production. More than 46 species of insects were reported as flower visitors in the open field for pigeonpea production outside China, and Megachile spp. were the major pollinators. Reports on relations between insect pollinators and pigeonpea hybrid production were seldom in the world. In China, there is not any research report on relation between CGMS hybrid production of pigeonpea and its insect pollinators. Therefore, species, abundance, visiting frequency of flower-visiting insects at flowering stage and hybrid yield of pigeonpea were investigated recently, in pigeonpea hybrid production field in Yuanmou County in Yunnan province of China, using CGMS based ICPH2671 hybrid. The results in-dicated 25 species of flower-visiting insects were observed, among them the main species including Megachile velutina Sm., Megachile sp5, Xylocopa tenuiscapa Westw., Apinae sp1 and Megachile sp2 were confirmed. At blooming stage, the visiting frequency of flower-visiting insects on each observed primary branch of the CGMS male sterile line was 2.8 times per 10 minutes, while on CGMS restorer line was 5.2 times per 10 minutes. This indicated the preference of flower-visiting insects to the flowers of restorer line. The significantly different visiting frequency of flower-visiting insects be-tween male sterile and restorer lines resulted in very similar dry seed yields of male sterile line (383.7 g plant–1) and restorer line (357.0 g plant–1). This indicated enough pollen transportation from restorer line to male sterile line by in-sect pollinators, even much less visiting frequency appeared on the flowers of male sterile line compared to that of restorer line. Pigeonpea2011Science PressArticle

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