SAVE THE BEES

INTRODUCTION OF GM MUSTARD WILL HAVE A SERIOUS IMPACT ON BEE-KEEPING INDUSTRY

- OP CHAUDHARY

The serenity of the vast golden yellow-hued landscape of rapeseed and mustard is inseparably associated with the image of honey bees on its flowers, reflecting the unique association of mustard and honey bees since time immemorial.

Flowering plants and insects, especially bees coevolved 60-100 million years ago, long before the appearance of mankind on the earth. Plants evolved a mechanism of reproduction that involved pollination only where pollinators lived and a majority of 2.50 lakhs flowering plant species on the earth has amazingly complex relationships with the bees and pollinators. Such relatively colourful flowers have a capacity to reflect ultraviolet light which is well seen by the bees. Plants have progressively evolved themselves to prevent self fertilisation. The plants invested heavily into production of colourful flowers with carbohydrate rich nectar and protein rich pollen. Animal pollinators on the other hand modified their feeding behaviour to utilise these floral resources. Bees are thus, not just the guests but thoroughly adopted symbionts, because they feed and rear their young ones on the products gathered from the flowers and in turn bees provide cross pollination services to the plants.