Sihag, R.C.Wadhwa, Nidhi2016-11-212016-11-212007http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/86668An abstract of the dissertation submitted to the Chudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Zoology. Medicinal plants, the world's oldest known source of health care products, play a key role in the production of traditional as well as modern medicines. Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina) is an important medicinal plant known for having several alkaloids useful for curing. The study was made on floral structure, floral phenology, melittophily, pollination ecology and the role of different modes of pollination in seed yield of sarpagandha. Floral structure was studied under dissecting microscope revealed the presence of protogynous condition in the flowers of sarpagandha .Abundance of insect visitors studied at hourly and weekly intervals which was maximum during peak flowering period of this plant. Nineteen insect species visited the crop of sarpagandha; out of these five species i.e. Papilio demoleus, Mellisodes sp., Xylocopa fenestrata, Megachile sp., Pieris brassicae were the main pollinators. Among the lepidopterous insects Papilio demoleus had highest foraging rate as compared to Pieris brassicae.Among the hymenopterous insects, Xylocopa visited maximum number of flower per minute, followed by Megachile sp. and Mellisodes sp. Among all the insect visitors, Papilio demoleus remained active for the longest duration on sarpagandha flower followed by Mellisodes sp., Xylocopa fenestrata, Pieris brassicae and Megachile sp., respectively. Pollinating efficiencies of the pollinators were derived on the basis of their abundance, foraging rate and mean activity duration. Among the five insect pollinators Papilio demoleus came out to be on the first place and seemed to be the best pollinator of this crop .Other pollinators with relatively lower ranking in descending order of pollinating efficiency were Mellisodes sp., Xylocopa fenestrata and Megachile sp. Studies on yield parameters revealed that sarpagandha flowers were highly benefited from insect visits, and insect pollination greatly enhanced its seed yield.Crop without insects produced very low seed yield. It was further revealed that sarpagandha is a cross-pollinated and entomophilous plant. The structure shape and fertility status of the flower clearly revealed that it has butterfly pollinated flowers and psychophily pollination syndrome existed in sarpagandha.enSarpagandha,Rauvolfia serpentina, Pollination, Floral biology, Foraging behaviour, Psychophily, Abundance, Seed yieldThesis