Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
Preeti Kaundil, Raj Kumar Thakur, Meena Thakur, Harish Kumar Sharma, Shivani Chauhan, Priyanka Rani, Kritika Sood, Sudha Singh, Komal and Rajni Devi

Abstract:
The survey was conducted during March-April in Year 2019 and Year 2021 at Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. Remarks on insect pollinators accrued with the aid of using scan sampling, fluorescent pan traps and sweep net captures during both years demonstrated that 59 insects belonging to 39 genera under 18 families and 5 orders have been recorded on apple bloom. Hymenopterans have been recorded as most dominant visitors followed by Dipterans, Lepidopterans, Coleopterans and Thysanopterans. Data on number of trapped insect in fluorescent pan traps revealed that ‘other insect visitors’ (0.89/trap) (Ceratina binghami, Amegilla sp., Megachile sp., Andrena sp., Astata sp., Halictus lucidipennis, Lasioglossum sp., Vespa sp., Episyrphus balteatus., Eristalis tenax, Musca sp.) were mostly trapped insects and the minimum trapped insect visitors were Lepidopterans (0.22/trap. By scan sampling method, A. mellifera (5.46/500 flowers/2m² in 10 minutes) was statistically most abundant insect visitor and the minimum abundance of insect visitors were recorded from Lepidopterans (0.27/500 flowers/2m² in 10 minutes). A. mellifera (1.04/5 sweeps) gets captured in huge quantity through sweep net captures.