Diversity of insect pollinators with reference to their impact on yield production of canola (Brassica napus L.) in Ismailia, Egypt

  • Soliman M. Kamel Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, 41522 Ismailia
  • Hatem M. Mahfouz Plant Production Department, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Suez Canal University El-Arish
  • Abd EL-Fatah H. Blal Plant Production Department, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Suez Canal University El-Arish
  • Maysa Said Plant Production Department, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Suez Canal University El-Arish
  • Mahmoud Farag Mahmoud Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, 41522 Ismailia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/pif.v30i3.8278
Keywords: Insect pollinators, Diversity, Canola, Yield, Egypt,

Abstract


A study of insect pollinators and their impact on canola yield was conducted during the
2013/2014 and 2014/2015 growing seasons. The study was carried out at an  experimental farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia. The results revealed that 21 species of insect pollinators belonging to 14 families under four orders visited canola flowers. The abundance of Hymenoptera insects reached the maximum of 67.90%, followed by Diptera 14.97%, Coleoptera 13.61%, then Lepidoptera 2.26% as average of both seasons. In open pollination, Colletes lacunatus had the maximum percent abundance in the two seasons (30.45 and 29.34%, respectively) followed by Apis mellifera (12.34 and 17.73%, respectively), compared to other bees and different pollinators. Peaks of foraging activity of both C. lacunatus and A. mellifera were mainly observed from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and they corresponded to the number of flowering plants. Open pollination increased the number of pods per plant, seeds per pod, weight of 1000 seeds, yield per plant, yield per feddan (1 fed = 0.42 ha) and seed germination, compared to non-open pollination.

References

Ali, M., Saeed, S., Sajjad, A., & Whittington, A. (2011). In search of the best pollinators for canola (Brassica napus L.) production in Pakistan. Applied Entomology and Zoology, 46, 353-361.

Arthur, A.D., Li, J., Henry, S., & Cunningham, S.A. (2010). Influence of woody vegetation on pollinator densities in oilseed Brassica fields in an Australian temperate landscape. Basic and Applied Ecology, 11, 406-414.

Becker, H.C., Damgaard, C., & Karlsson, B. (1992). Environmental variation for outcrossing rate in rapeseed (Brassica napus). Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 84, 303-306.

Bhowmik, B., Mitra, B., & Bhadra, K. (2014). Diversity of insect pollinators and their effect on the crop yield of Brassica juncea L., NPJ-93, from southern west Bengal. International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, 5(6), 1207-1213.

Bommarco, R., Marini, L., & Vaissière B.E. (2012). Insect pollination enhances seed yield, quality, and market value in oilseed rape. Oecologia, 169, 1025-1032.

Delaplane, K.S. & Mayer, D.F. (2000). Crop pollination by bees. Wallington, UK: CABI Publishing.

Free, J.B. (1993). Insect pollination of crops. London, UK: Academic Press.

Klein, A.M., Vaissière, B.E., Cane, J.H., Steffan-Dewenter, I, Cunningham, S.A., Kremen, C., & Tscharntke, T. (2007). Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274(1608), 303-313.

Kunin, W.E. (1997). Population size and density effects in pollination: pollinator foraging and plant reproductive success in experimental arrays of Brassica kaber. Journal of Ecology, 85, 225-234.

Mahmoud, M.F. (2012). Insects associated with sesame (Sesamun indicum L.) and the impact of insect pollinators on crop production. Pesticides & Phytomedicide, 27(2), 117-129.

Mahmoud, M.F. & Shebl, M. (2014). Insect fauna of canola and phenology of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) as A key pest. Redia, 97, 125-132.

Marjanović-Jeromela, A., Marinković, R., Mijić, A., Zdunić, Z., Ivanovska, S., & Jankulovska, M. (2008). Correlation and path analysis of quantitative traits in winter rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Agriculturae Conspectus Scientificus, 73, 13-18.

Miri, H.R. (2007). Morphophysiological basis of variation in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) yield. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 9, 701-706.

Rosa, A.S., Blochtein, B., & Lima, D.K. (2011). Honey bee contribution to canola pollination in Southern Brazil. Scientia Agricola, 68 (2), 255-259.

Sabbahi, R., Oliveira, D., & Marceau, J. (2005). Influence of honey hee (Hymenopetra: Apidae) density on the production of canola (Cruciferae: Brassicaceae). Journal of Economic Entomology, 98, 367-372.

SAS Institute (2004). SAS/STAT 9.1 User’s Guide. Vol. 1 and 2. Cary, N C.: SAS Institute Inc.

Sayed, A.M.M. & Teilep, W.M.A. (2013). Role of natural enemies, climatic factors and performance genotypes on regulating pests and establishment of canola in Egypt. The Journal of Basic & Applied Zoology, 66, 18-26.

Sharaan, A.N., Ghallab, K.H., & Yousif, K.M. (2002). Performance and water relations of some rapeseed genotypes grown in sandy loam soils under irrigation regimes. Annals of Agricultural Science (Moshtohor), 40(2), 751-767.

Stanley, D.A., Gunning, D., & Stout, J.C. (2013). Pollinators and pollination of oilseed rape crops (Brassica napus L.) in Ireland: ecological and economic incentives for pollinator conservation. Journal of Insect Conservation, 17, 1181-1189.

Woodcock, B.A., Edwards, M., Redhead, J., Meek, W.R., Nuttall, P., Falk, S., …, Pywell, R.F. (2013). Crop flower visitation by honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees: behavioural differences and diversity responses to landscape. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 171, 1-8.

Published
2015/12/08
How to Cite
Kamel, S. M., Mahfouz, H. M., Blal, A. E.-F. H., Said, M., & Mahmoud, M. F. (2015). Diversity of insect pollinators with reference to their impact on yield production of canola (Brassica napus L.) in Ismailia, Egypt. Pesticides and Phytomedicine / Pesticidi I Fitomedicina, 30(3). https://doi.org/10.2298/pif.v30i3.8278
Issue
Vol. 30 No. 3 (2015): Pesticidi i fitomedicina
Section
Original Scientific Paper

Authors retain copyright of the published papers and grant to the publisher the non-exclusive right to publish the article, to be cited as its original publisher in case of reuse, and to distribute it in all forms and media.

The published articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA). It is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform, and build upon it for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided, it is indicated if changes were made and the new work is distributed under the same license as the original.

Users are required to provide full bibliographic description of the original publication (authors, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages), as well as its DOI code. In electronic publishing, users are also required to link the content with both the original article published in Pesticidi i fitomedicina (Pesticides and Phytomedicine) and the licence used.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.