@article{Younas_Ali_Matloob_sajjad_Tahira Gul_Saeed_2022, title={Effect of drought stress on the foraging behavior of insect pollinators and the reproductive success of canola (Brassica napus L.)}, volume={34}, url={https://ejfa.me/index.php/journal/article/view/2817}, DOI={10.9755/ejfa.2022.v34.i2.2817}, abstractNote={<p>To appraise the effect of drought stress on the foraging behavior (visitation frequency and visitation rate) of insect pollinators and its <br>ultimate impact on reproductive success of canola (Brassica napus L.), an experiment was carried out at the Research Farm of MNSUniversity of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan. Previously, only a few studies have evaluated drought stress as a predictor of plant-pollinator <br>interactions. Normal irrigated and drought stress plots of canola were separated by a distance of fifteen meters. Normal irrigated plots <br>received recommended number of irrigations (three times) i.e., 1st irrigation at 30 days after germination (DAG), 2nd at flowering, and <br>3rd at pod setting. However, irrigation was applied only once to drought-stressed plots i.e., 1st irrigation at 30 DAG. Twelve insect species <br>in two orders and five families visited the canola flowers. These floral visitor species were grouped into three categories, i.e., Apis bees <br>(honey bees), non-Apis bees, and flies. The abundance of Apis and non-Apis bees was significantly higher in irrigated plots than in <br>drought plots, while the abundance of flies did not differ significantly in both plots. Stay time of all the floral visitors was significantly <br>higher in drought plots, while the visitation rate was significantly higher in irrigated plots. The interaction between pollination modes <br>(open pollination and self-pollination) and water regimes (normal irrigation and drought stress) was significant for all the reproductive <br>success parameters of canola (silique length and weight, number of seeds per silique, seed weight per silique, number of siliques per <br>plant and fatty acid contents (%) of canola seeds) under normal irrigation regime for free insect visits treatment. Moreover, a variation <br>of 83% to 207% was observed for these parameters between irrigated and drought plots receiving insect pollination (free insect visits) <br>due to higher pollinator abundance and visitation rate in the former ones. However, all the reproductive success parameters did not <br>vary between irrigated and drought plots with no insect pollination (no insect visits, caged treatment). In conclusion, drought stress <br>negatively affected insect pollinators’ foraging behavior, leading to low reproductive success in canola. In the climate change scenario <br>and limited water availability, future studies should consider drought stress for other cross-pollinated crops under varying environments <br>and pollinator fauna.</p>}, number={2}, journal={Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture}, author={Younas, Muqaddas and Ali, Mudssar and Matloob, Amar and sajjad, Asif and Tahira Gul, Hafiza and Saeed, Shafqat}, year={2022}, month={Mar.} }