Browsing by Author "Sahlberg, Ilse"

The crops, pollinator species and the agricultural conditions in the Northern agricultural district differ from those in most other areas. For example, in Finland the importance of insect pollination hasn't been researched very broadly. The oil plant widely cultivated in Finland, turnip rape (Brassica rapa subsp. Oleifera) has been discovered to benefit from insect pollination. The aim of this study is to examine whether the yield is different with turnip rapes where insect pollination is free or prevented, and how pollinator species and the number of flower visits affect the turnip rape yield. The study was mainly conducted in July 2017 on field parcels in Uusimaa. In the turnip rape fields, different pollinators and their visits in turnip rape flowers were monitored. To prevent insect pollination, the turnip rapes were covered with gauze bags before flowering began so that several plants came into one bag. This allowed cross-pollination. The total number of flower visits by pollinators was linked to the number of racemes and seeds of the plant: insect pollination decreased the number of racemes and increased the number of seeds per plant. The honeybees and hoverflies were a major group of pollinators explaining the turnip rape yield. Openly pollinated turnip rapes contained fewer racemes and more siliques and seeds per silique than enclosed plants. In addition, the weight of the seeds was higher In this study, it was discovered that there are differences between diverse pollinator species groups when it comes to pollination efficiency. It is still not clear how exactly the diversity of pollinator species affects pollination. Several studies show that after a certain threshold, flower visits by honey bees no more have an increasing effect on crop yields. Thus, other pollinators are also needed for optimal pollination. This study especially highlighted the significance of wild pollinators in pollinating crop plants. There seems to be demand for long-term monitoring of the pollination efficiency of different pollinator groups in the northern agricultural region