Studies on the Pollinator Fauna on Drumstick (Moringa oleifera L.)

This study documented the species composition, relative abundance and daily activity patterns of insect floral visitors to drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) var. PKM-1 at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station, Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra, Bengaluru, during the 2023–2024 flowering period. Insect floral visitors were recorded through visual observations and sweep-net sampling. During peak flowering in April 2024, observations were made at hourly intervals from 0600 to 1800 h over five days. Each five-minute sampling period covered 25 inflorescences distributed across five trees. Floral-visitor diversity was evaluated using the Shannon–Wiener index, while relative dominance was assessed using the Berger–Parker index. Overall, 24 insect floral visitor species belonging to five orders—Hymenoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera—were documented. Hymenoptera was the most species-rich and abundant order. Among the 11 major floral visitors considered in the abundance analysis, Apis dorsata was predominant (29.57%), followed by Xylocopa latipes (16.57%) and Apis cerana (14.28%). Total visitor abundance was highest during 0900–1000 h (57.60 insects per 25 inflorescences per five minutes) and lowest during 0600–0700 h (12.40). The Shannon–Wiener index ranged from 1.14 to 2.18, reaching its maximum during 1200–1300 h. Apis dorsata also recorded the highest Berger–Parker dominance index (0.29). These findings describe the composition and temporal variation of the observed insect floral visitor assemblage under the study conditions.