ONION FLOWERS ANTHESIS AND INSECT POLLINATORS PREFERENCES ON ONION (ALLIUM CEPA L.) CROP

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is grown in almost every country of the world. It is consumed as a raw or cooked vegetable as well as in salads and condiments. A global review of major vegetables shows that onion ranks second after tomato in area. Approximately, 36 million tones onions are produced on 2-5 million ha globally. The present study was carried out at National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. The field experiment was conducted during the month of April 2019 to investigate the diversity of pollinators, visiting rate, visiting frequency and time spent by insect on a flower of Allium cepa L. Fluctuation in visits of insect pollinators on different days was observed. The visiting rate of insect pollinators was high at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm while visiting frequency was high during 8:00am to 10:00 am. The community of pollinators was composed of two honeybee species (Apis mellifera, Apis dorsata), Hornets, Wasps, Butterfly and Syrphid fly. The most abundant pollinator was Syrphid fly followed by A. mellifera. The pollinator activity was observed after opening of the onion flowers. The pollination activity of Syrphid fly was greater than other observed pollinators. So, it was concluded that Syrphid flies visited most the onion flowers. Further observation can be done in future.