Onion varieties, honeybee visitations, and seed yield

Onion seed plants, Allium cepa L., exhibited varietal differences regarding honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) visitation; incidence of pink root disease, Pyrenochaeta terrestris Hansen) Gorenz, Walker, and Larson; numbers of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) present; and seed yields. Results from an isolated onion planting showed that the male sterile, Code 2 hybrid, adjacent to a pollen-parent, was significantly more attractive to honeybees and produced significantly more seed than a second comparable hybrid.