Diversity of Flower Visitors in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Flower visitors play an important role in fruit set of brinjal. The diversity of flower visitors in brinjal was studied. Twelve species of insects belonging to Hymenoptera (92%), and Diptera (8%) visited brinjal flowers. The most frequent flower visitors included two species of Xylocopa, viz., X. amethystina, X. aestuans followed by Apis dorsata, A. florea, Amegilla sp. and Tetragonula iridipennis. The diversity of most frequent flower visitors was high during morning hours (H = 1.03), which decreased by the afternoon (H = 0.94) and was lowest by the evening hours (H = 0.45). The peak abundance of flower visitors was during morning hours in post monsoon season. However, the pollinator diversity was high during morning hours (H = 1.23), which decreased by the afternoon (H = 1.19) and was lowest by the evening hours (H = 0.64). The peak abundance of flower visitors was during morning hours in summer season.