Diversity and Relative Abundance of Pollinator Fauna of Canola (Brassica napus L. Var Chakwal Sarsoon) with Managed Apis mellifera L. in Pothwar Region, Gujar Khan, Pakistan

Insect pollinators are essential for reproduction and survival of several plant species. Agricultural productivity depends on population interactions of these pollinators. A field experiment was conducted at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Research Farm, Koont, Gujar Khan during 2015 to compare the diversity and abundance of different insect pollinators on canola (Brassica napus L. Var. Chakwal Sarsoon) crops along with managed Apis mellifera. Thirty five insect species belonging to twenty families under five orders were recorded on canola. Among the hymenopterans, abundance of managed A. mellifera was maximum (87.76%) followed by Apis florea (1.11%) and Apis dorsata (0.98%). Peak activity of the insect visitors was observed at the mid of the day i.e., 12:00 pm. The activity of managed A. mellifera started to increase from the third week of blooming (20th Jan, 2015) and reached to maximum in the sixth week (10thFeb, 2015). Among the abiotic environmental factors, temperature had a strong, significant and positive correlation with the foraging activity of A. mellifera on B. napus (r=0.766; P=0.0037**), whereas relative humidity and rainfall had significantly negative correlation (r=-0.759; P=0.0041**, r=-0.715; P=0.0089**).