IMPACT OF BEE POLLINATION ON SEED YIELD, CARBOHYDRATE-COMPOSITION AND LIPID-COMPOSITION OF MUSTARD SEED

The impact of self (SP), open (OP), hand (HP), bee (BP) and auto-pollination (AP) on yield and carbohydrate and lipid composition of seeds of Brassica campestris L. var. toria was investigated. The pollination percentage as confirmed by pod formation was 8.1% (SP), 82.3% (OP), 88.3% (HP) and 96.4% (BP). BP plants were found to produce 3 times heavier pods, 4 times more seeds per pod, 50 times more seeds per plant, 11 times more pods per plant and 84 times more seed yield per plant than SP plants. Carbohydrate content was inversely proportional to lipid content. In the seeds of SP plants the total carbohydrate content was about twice that of seeds of BP plants. Triglycerides constituted the majority of neutral lipids. In the seeds of BP plants triglycerides constituted about 74% of the total non-polar lipids, which was about 20 times more than in SP plants. Sterol was the least abundant of all the lipids and phosphatidylcholine was absent from all seeds. High lipid content was directly related to high seed yield, and concentration of total lipid increased according to type of pollination in the order SP < OP < HP < BP.