Department of Animal, Range Land and Wildlife Science
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Item Farmers’ Perception on Pollination and the Influence of Honeybees and Other Insect pollinators on Black Cumin (Nigella sativa) Seed Yield and Quality in Mekelle and Degua Tembien, Tigray, Ethiopia(Mekelle University, 2025-02-15) Medhanye Araya TadesseInsect pollinators, particularly honeybees are important in enhancing seed yield and quality of crops. However, Farmers’ perception of pollination remains unstudied. This study was conducted to assess farmers’ perceptions on pollination service and to evaluate effect of honeybees and other insects on seed yield and quality of Nigella sativa. This study considered both field experiment and survey study. The survey was conducted in Degua-tembien, Tigray region, Ethiopia, with 179 households, FGDs and KIIs. Field experiment was conducted at Mekelle Agricultural Research Center, organized in randomized complete block design with three treatments including plots caged with honeybees, open pollinated and caged without insect pollinators; and each was replicated three times. The survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square with SPSS software; while the experimental data was analyzed statistically using one way ANOVA with R-software. The survey result showed 93.3% of respondents were unaware about pollination and none of them knew the contribution of honeybees and other insect pollinators in enhancing crop yield and quality. The experimental result indicated caged plots with honeybees had the highest seed yield (20.5 Qt./ha) followed by open pollination (19.58 Qt./ha) and caged without insect pollinators (13.75 Qt./ha). The germination percentage, 1000 seed weight, protein, oil and moisture content were also affected by the mode of pollination. However, ash and crude fiber content were not affected by the mode of pollination. So this result indicates, honeybees and other insect pollinators had a statistically significant effect on seed yield and quality of Nigella sativa, despite farmers’ lack of awareness. Honeybees were the most abundant insect pollinators in the open treatment, comprising 64.4%. As a result, farmers can gain 13,041,000 ETB/year net benefit of Nigella sativa via insect pollination. The study recommends training local farmers to improve awareness on chemical utilization and significance of pollination to enhance quality and yield performance of the crop; Farmers should be encouraged to utilize honeybee colonies for pollination to improve seed quality and yield of Nigella sativa. Further research is needed to determine the optimal number of honeybee colonies for specific areas and crops to maximize production and farmer income