Abundance and Foraging Behaviour of Entomophilous Pollinators on Sesame, Sesamum indicum L.

The present study focused on the community of insect pollinators, abundance and foraging behavior of different pollinators on sesame. During the study period 32 species of insect visitors were observed in sesame. The order Hymenoptera shared maximum abundance (81.25%) followed by Diptera (12.50%) and Coleoptera (6.25%). Among them Apis dorsata acted as dominant forager contributing 24.72% followed by Apis cerana indica (22.44%) and Apis florea (11.29%) Most of the bees visited sesame flowers, but the density of A. dorsata, A. c. indica was maximum and peaked during 1000–1200 hours with a mean population of 14.06 and 12.0 individuals/m²/5 min whereas the activity of A. florea peaked (7.05 individuals/m/5 min) at 0800-1000 hours and a steady decline in abundance of bees was observed during eveninghours. The flower visitation frequency was found maximum (9.14 flowers/min) in A. c. indica followed by A. dorsata (7.44 flowers/min) during 1000–1200 hours meanwhile the sequence of flower visitation reduces during evening 1600–1800 hours as 3.12 and 3.18 flowers/min respectively. The time spent by different bees was in the order A. florea (18.05 sec/flower) > A. cerana (15.04 sec/flower) > A. dorsata (11.14 sec/flower) between 0600-0800 hours.