Does the search field on the application launcher depend on Nepomuk?

I had to disable Nepomuk on some systems because it takes too much CPU and I/O and I have noticed that on some systems the search field for programs does not show newly installed programs. Does that function depend on Nepomuk file indexing?

The application launcher (known as Kickoff) should be utilising KRunner for performing it's searches.
While both as a result support making searches via Nepomuk, they can generate a variety of other results - including for applications or commands.

Can you make sure that the relevant plugins are enabled in KRunner? KRunner can be accessed via Alt + F2.