Effect of honey bee Apis mellifera L. pollination on oilseed rape

An experiment was conducted to survey insect visitors and the effect of different modes of pollination on quantity of oilseed rape. Survey revealed that a wide range of insect species, including honey bees, and hover flies, house fly and ensign fly were frequent on oilseed rape flowers where honey bees (Apis dorsata and Apis mellifera) were dominant. Effect of pollination revealed that in bee pollinated (BP) plants the number of pods/ plant, number of seeds/ pod, weight of 1000 seeds (g) and yield/ ha were 16.38, 20.18, 6.75 and 14.27% higher than open/naturally pollinated (NP) plants, respectively. Without (WP) pollinators the number of pods/ plant, number of seeds/ pod, weight of 1000 seeds (g) and yield/ ha were the 19.38, 37.05, 8.10 and 32.63% lower than naturally pollinated (NP) plants, respectively. Bee pollination is the most effective and cheaper device for seed production in rapeseed and mustard.