Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of pollinating insects on canola productivity for different commercial hybrids, Hyola 61 and Hyola 433, in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The studies were conducted at the Fazenda Experimental Agua Limpa of the Federal University of Uberlândia. To evaluate the influence of pollination by bees on the production of canola seeds, an experiment was carried out to exclude floral visitors and compare canola seed production following four treatments: (a) autogamy in Hyola 61, (b) autogamy in Hyola 433, (c) open pollination in Hyola 61, with insects having free access, and (d) open pollination in Hyola 433, with insects having free access. Flowers that were available for pollination had 25% and 18.8% heavier pods and 22.5% and 20.6% more seeds per pod in Hyola 61 and Hyola 433, respectively, than those bagged without pollination. The results show that the cross-pollination process, fostered by pollinator visits, positively influenced some parameters related to production, presenting an advantage in relation to canola autogamy in Cerrado Mineiro.
Highlights
Canola (Brassica napus L.) is an oleaginous plant of the Brassicaceae family that was developed by conventionally breeding rapeseed cultivars; rapeseed is a grain with high levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates
Result and discussion When the influence of pollination was evaluated, there was a significant difference between the treatments with open pollination (OP) and autogamy (AT) for both hybrids for the following characteristics: the mean weight of the pod and mean number of seeds/pod
Several factors have been discussed in the literature as determinants for full plant development and crop productivity, such as sowing density and spacing (Von Pinho, Gross, Steola, & Mendes, 2008), genotype (Silveira et al, 2010), cultivar (Krüger et al, 2011), time of sowing (Ungaro, Nogueira, & Nagai, 2000), harvest season (Marchiori et al, 2002) and environmental conditions (Mello et al, 2006)
Summary
Canola (Brassica napus L.) is an oleaginous plant of the Brassicaceae family that was developed by conventionally breeding rapeseed cultivars; rapeseed is a grain with high levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates (antinutritional substances). Excellent quality oil for human consumption and for bioenergy is produced, and it is considered the third most produced oilseed in the world, surpassed only by the production of palm and soybean (De Mori, Tomm, & Ferreira, 2014). The cultivation of canola covered an area of approximately 34 million hectares in 2014. The world's largest producers and consumers of canola grains are in the European Union, with production of 21.1 million tons for the 2013/2014 harvest and a forecast of 24 million tons for the 2014/2015 harvest. Consumption of canola grains was 24.5 million tons in 2013/2014, with grain imports of 3.4 million tons. The second largest producer and consumer is China, with production of 14.5 million tons for the 2013/2014 harvest and grain imports of approximately 5 million tons to supply the domestic market (USDA, 2016)
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