Impact of Apis mellifera L. 1758 (Hymenoptera, Apidae) foraging activities on fruit and seed yields on the Goudami variety of Allium cepa L. 1753 (Liliaceae) in Mokong (Mayo Tsanaga, Far North Region; Cameroon)

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of Apis mellifera foraging activities on fruit and seed yields on the Goudami variety of Allium cepa in Mokong (Far North Region of Cameroon). The different treatments were the umbels left to pollinate freely, the flowers visited exclusively once by Ap. mellifera and those not visited. The activities of Ap. mellifera were carried out on the free umbels in 2020 and 2021. The fruiting rate, average number of seeds per fruit, mass of 100 seeds and germination rate were recorded. The correlation between the rate of visits of Ap. mellifera and the rate of flowers bloomed was very highly significant positive (r = 0.95; df = 52; p ˂ 0.001). Apis mellifera harvested a lot of nectar and very little pollen. The direct pollination efficiency of Ap. mellifera on fruiting rate, average number of seeds per fruit, percentage of normal seeds and germination rate was 69.49%, 24.33%, 65.57%, 33.57% respectively. A single visit of Ap. mellifera significantly increased the fruiting rate, average number of seeds per fruit, percentage normal seeds and germination rate of this variety of onion