author(s)
Manoj Kumar and Chandreshwar Prasad Rai

abstract
Field experiments on the foraging activity and pollination diversity of insect pollinators on ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula L.) were conducted at University Apiary, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University Pusa, Samastipur (Bihar) during the Kharif season 2019-2020. The forging activity of insect pollinators visiting the ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) revealed that two orders Hymenoptera and Diptera were identified as the major insect pollinators of ridge gourd. The order Hymenoptera include four species i.e., Apis mellifera L., A. dorsata F., A. florea F., Xylocopa fenestrata F., and were found to be most frequent pollinators. Among Dipterans viz., Eristalinus sp. from Syrphidae family and Musca domestica from family Muscidae were found during crop season. The abundance of different insect visitors species revealed that the mean population of Apis mellifera (22.6) was highest followed by Apis dorsata (18.04), Xylocopa fenestrate (12.12) and the least population of Apis florea being 9.32 was recorded among different insect foraging complex on ridge gourd bloom. This might be due to fact that more number of opened flower density were observed during mid-flowering period and lower open flower density during initiation of bloom and near maturity of crop. With the increase in temperature the foraging activity of pollinators increases while the relative humidity suppresses the foraging activity of pollinators.