1Division of Entomology and Nematology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake P.O., Bengaluru-560089
2ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Katrain, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh-175129
3Department of Agricultural Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru-560065
*E-mail: prasannaent@gmail.com
Online published on 15 May, 2017.
A study on manual and open pollination was carried to understand the importance of insect pollination in broccoli crop. The results revealed that significantly higher pod weight, seed weight and 1000 seed weight was recorded in open pollinated crop compared to manually pollinated crop. Majority of the insect visitors belonged to Diptera followed by Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. Since manual pollination is laborious and difficult to perform pollination uniformly, hence proper identification of the isolation and allowing the crop to pollinate openly could result in production of not only more seeds but also quality seeds in broccoli.
Broccoli, insect pollination, pollinators, seed yield
