The Preliminary Study on Effects of Pollinating Insects in Canola (Brassica napus L.) Production

Abstract

Although canola (Brassica napus L.) plants are mainly self-pollinating, the cross pollination by insect increases yield. The study was carried out at Aegean Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), Menemen/Izmir in 2016/2017 growing season. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block with three replications. The treatments consisted of caged with honeybee, caged with bombus, caged without bees and open pollination. 96% of the collected insects from open pollination plots were honeybees. It was determined that flowering period significantly shortened (5.8 days) in plots with bee compared with caged without bee, while seed number per pod (4.6), thousand seed weight (0.25 g), seed yield (1398 kg ha-1), oil yield (776 kg ha-1) and oil rate (1.24%) increased. Also, the contents of erucic acid and glucosinolate level resulted in an increase by pollinator visit. It was concluded that pollination by insect affected yield, yield components and composition of fatty acid in canola. The results of this preliminary study should be supported by the research findings from multi locations and years.