Diversity of Insect Pollinators on Pearl Millet

The study on diversity of insect pollinators on pearl millet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br. was conducted during kharif 2022 at the College of Agriculture and Agricultural Research Station, Jodhpur. A total of six species of insect pollinators were recorded in the field at hourly intervals from 0600 to 1800 hrs during flowering stage of pearl millet. The pollinators were belonging to five families of two insect orders. The relative abundance of hymenopteran and dipteran insects was 98.53 and 1.47%, respectively. Among hymenoptera, Apis dorsata Fabricius observed as the most dominant species with relative abundance of 40.90% followed by Apis florea Fabricius (37.39%), Lipotriches spp. (11.01%) and Megachile albifrons Smith (9.23%), whereas the dipteran pollinators Physiphora spp. (1.12%) and Blow fly (0.35%) were least visiting insects. Maximum time spent by Apis dorsata is 14.70 sec/ flower followed by Apis florea (13.94 seconds/ flower), whereas minimum time spent by blow fly, (Calliphoridae) which about 0.58 sec/ flower.