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Trifolium alexandrinum L. is a multi-cut, winter annual fodder crop in the South Punjab region of Pakistan. Being cross pollinated crop, better seed production of T. alexandrinum depends upon insect pollinators. Current study was planned to find effective native insect pollinators which play a crucial role in enhancing seed production of T. alexandrinum. The goals were achieved by recording the diversity of insect pollinators, abundance, foraging activity and most importantly pollination efficiency in a single visit in terms of reproductive success parameters (head size, florets per head, seed count/head, seed mass/head and seed mass of 1000 seeds). The pollinator's community was composed of 06 Hymenoptera, 03 Diptera and 02 Lepidoptera species. It was found that the total abundance of a solitary bee Pesudapis oxybeloides was higher followed by a honey bee, Apis mellifera and a syrphid fly, Eristalinus aeneus. Moreover, solitary bee P. oxybeloides was detected as the most efficient pollinator based on rate of visitation and pollinator efficiency in a single visit, followed by A. mellifera and A. dorsata. The seed set in open pollination (free insect visits) was 58 and 70% higher and seed weight of 1000 seeds respectively as compared to self-pollination (no insect visits). Hence, conserving these most efficient native pollinators can lead to higher seed yield of T. alexandrinum and other seed crops in South Punjab, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesame is ranked among the top ten traditional oil seed crops of Pakistan. The present study is aimed to compare the effectiveness of native honey bees and solitary bees for better seed production of sesame and future conservation of effective insect pollinators. The sesame crop was grown during two years (2019 & 2020) at the research farm of MNS-University of Agriculture Multan, Pakistan. Abundance and diversity of native insect pollinators, their foraging behavior in terms of visit duration and visitation rate (number of flowers visited per minute) along with their pollination effectiveness in terms of single visit seed set efficacy were assessed. Pollinator community was composed of seven solitary bees species (Nomia oxybeloides, Amegilla sp., Lasioglossum sp., Megachile sp., Xylocopa sp.), two honeybee species (Apis dorsata, A. florea) and two syrphid fly species (Eristalinus aeneus, Ischiodon scutellaris). In both the years, honey bees were more abundant than the solitary bees while the syrphid flies were least abundant. However, visitation rate of solitary bee, Amegilla sp. was the highest (6.4 ± 0.41) followed by N. oxybeloides (3.4 ± 0.32) and A. dorsata (3.1 ± 0.90). Based on single visit seed set parameters i.e., capsule length (cm), capsule weight (gm), number of seed per capsule and seed weight per capsule (gm), solitary bee Amegilla sp. was the most efficient followed by A. dorsata and N. oxybeloides. Conserving the most efficient native solitary bee (Amegilla sp.) and honey bee (A. dorsata) can lead to higher seed production. Moreover, the effectiveness of Amegilla sp. should also be evaluated for other oil seed crops in Punjab, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]