DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF FLOWER VISITING INSECTS ASSOCIATED WITH SESAME

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Research farm of Department of Entomology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU) Hisar, Haryana to determine the diversity and abundance of insect pollinators on two varieties of sesame HT-1 and HT-2 during 2017 and 2018. A total of 34 insect species belonging to 18 families from four orders were observed. Of these Apis dorsata (4.76 bees/ m²/ 5 min; 26.92% of total flower visitors) followed by A. mellifera (2.34 bees/ m²/ 5 min), M. lanata (2.23 bees/ m²/ 5 min) and A. florea (1.32 bees/ m²/ 5 min) were predominant. Peak activity of the insect visitors was observed at 1000-1200 hr of the day.