Jameela Rasool, Munazah Yaqoob, Waseem Ahmed War, Liyaqat Ayoub, Ishfaq Majeed Shah, Rukshanda Hanief and Rehana Mohiddin
Abstract
Coriander is a glabrous, aromatic annual and erect plant which is cultivated for its leaves and seeds. It is attracted by diverse insect species which result in efficient pollination of the crop. An effort to find the foraging activity of main pollinators in coriander was done. The highest foraging speed (time spent on umbel) was recorded in Xylocopa valga and minimum in Apis cerana. The lowest foraging rate (umbels/ minute), however, was observed in case of X. valga that visited less number of flowers per minute and minimum was in A. cerana. A. cerana started foraging early at 0730 ± 0014 hours however, late cessation was recorded in Bombus trifasciatus (1930 ± 0018 h). The highest foraging period (h) was observed in B. trifasciatus and shortest was in A. mellfera.