Seed Production of Vegetable, Tuber and Spice Crops (2+1)

Pollination and Pollinating Insects

• Individual carrot flowers are normally protandrous and much cross¬pollination occurs between plants in a seed crop. However because of the extended flowering period resulting from several successive umbels per plant and the succession of flowers on individual umbels, the possibility of self pollination always remains.
  
• Occurrence of pollinating honeybees, efficient pollinators are frequently scarce on carrot crops because other crops species were flowering in the vicinity at the same time. Several insect genera in Dymenoptera, Diptera & Coleoptera are extremely important pollinators of carrot seed crops, in the absence of bees
• An adequate presence of pollinating insects improves both seed yield and seed quality. Where natural insect pollinator populations are low placing honeybee colonies would be advantageous.