Floral Visitor Profile and Their Relative Abundance on Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esclentum M.)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the floral visitor profile, their reward forage from the inflorescence of buckwheat in addition to their abundance in different blooming phases of the crop. Totally 46 insect floral visitors were documented during different bloom phases during 2024, which included both Apis and non-Apis species, out of which 21 species were from Hymenoptera, 14 species from Diptera, six from Lepidoptera, three from Hemiptera and two from Coleoptera. The overall composition of A. cerana was maximum, followed by A. florea and A. mellifera during different bloom phases of buckwheat. The honey bees ranked first, followed by Syritta orientalis which belongs to family Apidae, compared to rest of the insect floral visitors which belonged to different orders. Hymenopterans were more abundant (45.65 %), followed by Dipterans (30.43 %), Lepidopterans (13.04 %), Hemipterans (6.52 %) and Coleopterans (4.3 %). The diversity of floral visitors was highest during maximum bloom phase on pin and thrum morph as compared to initial and late blooming phases. Irrespective of blooming phases, the diversity of floral visitors was maximum on thrum morph as compared to pin morph.