scholarly journals Assessing the effectiveness of honey bee pollinators for cultivated blueberries in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keanu Martin ◽  
Bruce Anderson ◽  
Corneile Minnaar ◽  
Marinus L de Jager
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Maximum Yield ◽  
Yield Potential ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Hand Pollination ◽  
Pollination Deficit ◽  
The Difference

AbstractGlobally, agricultural crops are often dependent on insect pollination. Blueberries are an example of such a crop and owing to their proposed health benefits they are grown around the world, including locations where their native bumble bee pollinators do not occur. In the absence of bumble bees, blueberry pollination in South Africa and many other parts of the non-native, commercial range is performed primarily by honey bees. Despite this, the effectiveness of honey bee pollination on blueberries remains understudied. This study determined the effect of honey bee pollination on components of fruit yield (fruit set and mass) of five blueberry varieties that are extensively planted in South Africa. For each variety, two metrics were calculated: 1) the benefit of bees — a comparison of fruit yields after exposure to honey bees and fruit yields after honey bee exclusion, 2) the pollination deficit — the difference in yield between hand pollination (maximum yield potential) and yields after exposure to honey bee pollinators. Honey bee pollination consistently resulted in improved yields, although the magnitude of this improvement (i.e., the benefit of bees) was dependent on the variety considered. Similarly, the pollination deficit also varied considerably across varieties and while some varieties appeared to perform close to maximum potential (small pollination deficit), others yielded well below their maximum potential under honey bee pollination. This study demonstrates that honey bees are functional pollinators of blueberries in areas where native blueberry pollinators are absent. However, in such areas, it is important that special focus be given to selecting blueberry varieties that perform well with honey bees as their sole pollinator. Further research is necessary to determine how the pollination deficit of blueberry varieties can be decreased as well as how to increase the effectiveness of honey bee pollination.

scholarly journals Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are important pollinators of the highbush blueberry variety Ventura despite the inability to sonicate

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keanu Martin ◽  
Bruce Anderson ◽  
Corneile Minnaar ◽  
Marinus de Jager
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Fruit Quality ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Highbush Blueberry ◽  
Agricultural Crops ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Hand Pollination

AbstractAnimal-mediated pollination is an essential ecosystem service which over a third of the world’s agricultural crops depend on. Blueberry fruit production is highly dependent on pollinators and in their native range they are pollinated mostly by bumble bees (Bombus spp.). Demand for blueberries has increased in recent years due to their perceived health benefits. Consequently, blueberry cultivation has expanded well beyond their native range, including several regions where bumble bees are not present. In many areas, honey bees may be the only commercially available pollinators of blueberries because many countries ban the importation of bumble bees. This study aimed to determine the benefits of honey bee pollination on blueberry fruit quality and quantity for the variety Ventura by comparing yields of honey-bee-pollinated flowers to flowers where pollinators had been excluded. Honey bees significantly increased berry mass and diameter. Our results suggest that the presence of honey bee pollinators potentially increases revenue by approximately $864 501/ha in areas without bumble bees. We conclude that Ventura is reliably pollinated by honey bees, and that honey bee pollination may be a useful substitute for bumble bees in areas where bumble bees are absent. We also determined the extent to which blueberry yields could still be improved by comparing fruit quality and quantity under honey bee pollination to fruit quality and quantity achieved through ideal hand pollination. We found that blueberry yields may be still be significantly increased relative to ideal hand pollination and we discuss potential ways to improve the efficiency of honeybee pollination in the future. Additional research is required to study how beneficial honey bees are to fruit yield on varieties as the benefits of honey bees are likely to vary across different varieties.

Diversity, density, efficiency, and effectiveness of pollinators of cicer milkvetch, Astragalus cicer L.

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (9) ◽  
pp. 2168-2176 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. W. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Propagation Rate ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Astragalus Cicer

Diversity, density, efficiency, and effectiveness of pollinators of cicer milkvetch, Astragalus cicer L., grown at two locations in southern Alberta were studied from 1978 to 1983. Twenty-seven species of bees were identified as pollinators. At Lethbridge, honey bees (Apis mellifera) comprised 74% of the observations, bumble bees 16%, and leafcutter bees 10%, while at Spring Coulee, the proportions were honey bees 14%, bumble bees 69%, and leafcutter bees 17%. The rate of foraging by pollinator species from flower to flower varied; bumble bee species, especially Bombus nevadensis Cress., foraged consistently more efficiently than honey bees or alfalfa leafcutter bees, Megachile rotundata (F.). A theoretical approach used to predict the bee populations required to pollinate varying flower densities shows that the population of B. nevadensis required is about half those of Bombus huntii Greene and M. rotundata and less than one-quarter that of the honey bee. Pollination by B. nevadensis consistently resulted in more seeds per pod than with any other bumble bee species, the honey bee, or M. rotundata. Of the nine species of bumble bee that established colonies in artificial domiciles near the field, B. nevadensis established the most colonies each year. The number of workers and sexuals produced per colony varied considerably among bumble bee species with only 55% of the colony establishments producing workers and 31% producing sexuals. The propagation rate and quality of alfalfa leafcutter bees produced on cicer milkvetch was excellent.

scholarly journals Role of insect visits on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) yield

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
MS Hossain ◽  
F Yeasmin ◽  
MM Rahman ◽  
S Akhtar ◽  
MA Hasnat
Keyword(s):  
Cucumis Sativus ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Cucumis Sativus L ◽  
M 10 ◽  
Hand Pollination ◽  
Insect Visitors

The foraging activities of insect visitors on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) were studied. The insect visitors in decreasing order of abundance were: Formica sp.>Apis mellifera>Apis cerana>syrphids≥Apis dorstata. The activity of insects was peaked at 08.00-09.00 am. The foraging behaviour of A. mellifera was also studied. The bees spent significantly more time per flower during morning hours (sec/flower) and foraged significantly fewer flowers (7.9 flowers/min) compared to evening hours. There were significantly more nectar foragers (6.03/m²/10 min) than pollen foragers (5.16/m²/10 min). Most pollen foragers were observed during morning hours (6.59/m²/10 min) whereas nectar foragers were most active during noon hours (6.63/m²/10 min). Highest fruit set was observed in hand pollination (70.68%). Percentage of misshapen fruits was maximum in without honey bee pollination (24.35%). Without honey bee pollination resulted in significantly lowest percentage of healthy fruits (75.25%). Hand pollination ranked highest among the three forms of pollination in respective of fruits (985.13 g), number of seeds per fruit (425.22), fruit diameter (27.1 cm), fruit length (26.7 cm) and weight of 1000-seeds (28.64 g). J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2018, 4(2): 81-88

scholarly journals Pollination and Plant Reproductive Success of Two Ploidy Levels in Red Clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxuan Jing ◽  
Per Kryger ◽  
Bo Markussen ◽  
Birte Boelt
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Red Clover ◽  
Flower Head ◽  
Seed Number ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Ploidy Levels ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
Visitation Rates ◽  
Hand Pollination

Plant reproduction in red clover requires cross-fertilization via insect pollination. However, the influences of visitation rate and timing on maximizing ovule utilization are yet to be determined. We aimed to study the influences of visitation rate, flowering stage, and self-incompatibility on reproductive success. We applied hand and honey bee pollination in the study of eight red clover cultivars with two ploidy levels released between 1964 and 2001. In hand pollination, increasing the visitation rates (from 10 to 80 pollinated florets per flower head) increased the seed number per flower head but reduced the seed number per pollinated floret. Different flowering stages (early, middle, and full flowering) did not influence the seed number per pollinated floret significantly. There was a marked difference in reproductive success depending on the ploidy level, with 0.52 seeds per pollinated floret in diploid and 0.16 in tetraploid cultivars. During the cultivar release history, seed number per pollinated floret seemed to decrease in diploid cultivars, whereas it increased in tetraploids. In honey bee pollination, diploid cultivars had more two-seeded florets than tetraploids. Different visitation rates and the stochastic nature of pollen transfer resulted in difficulties when the plant reproductive success between hand and bee pollination was compared. A maximum of 0.27 seeds per pollinated floret were produced in hand pollination compared to the 0.34 in honey bee pollination. In spite of this, hand pollination provided a valuable method for studying the pollination biology and reproduction of red clover. Future studies may employ hand pollination to unravel further aspects of the low reproductive success with the future perspective of improving seed number per pollinated floret in tetraploid red clover.

scholarly journals Differential autogrooming response to the tracheal mite Acarapis woodi by the honey bees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Sakamoto ◽  
T. Maeda ◽  
M. Yoshiyama ◽  
F. Konno ◽  
J. S. Pettis
Keyword(s):  
Apis Mellifera ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Behavioral Response ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Response Threshold ◽  
Acarapis Woodi ◽  
Tracheal Mite ◽  
Apis Cerana Japonica ◽  
The Difference

AbstractThe infestation of honey bees by the endoparasitic tracheal mite Acarapis woodi was first discovered in Apis mellifera on the Isle of Wight, England, and the mite has since spread to all continents except Australia. Since 2010, this tracheal mite has spread rapidly in the Japanese honey bee, Apis cerana japonica, of mainland Japan, causing considerable colony mortality. In contrast, infestations by the mites in the imported and managed European honey bee, A. mellifera, have rarely been observed in Japan. A previous laboratory experiment revealed a difference in susceptibility by demonstrating that the tracheal mite more frequently enters tracheae of A. cerana than those of A. mellifera. In this study, we compared autogrooming responses of A. cerana and A. mellifera by depositing a mite on each honey bee’s mesoscutum, and we then assessed the efficacy of autogrooming to remove the mite. The bees that received mites more frequently showed an autogrooming response compared to unchallenged bees in both bee species. However, a significantly greater proportion of A. mellifera individuals autogroomed compared to A. cerana. In addition, when bees autogroomed, A. mellifera removed the tracheal mite more effectively than A. cerana. When considering all bees in the mite-deposited group, the proportion of mite removal in A. mellifera was almost twice as high as that in A. cerana. Thus, the difference in susceptibility to the tracheal mite between these two bee species is attributed to the difference in the behavioral response threshold to mites and the effectiveness of mite removal by grooming.

The Beetube — a new honey bee pollination device in Western Australia

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 643
Author(s):  
R. Manning
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
High Density ◽  
Flight Activity ◽  
Total Weight ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Pollination Services

The development of a simple, durable, lightweight and disposable beehive for high-density (and netted) orchards and crops distant from beekeeping areas provides a useful product and a further diversification for beekeepers involved in professional pollination services. The total weight of a fully developed Beetube ranged from 2.23 to 3.64 kg, contained about 9101 bees, 3038 cm2 of comb, and had a morning and afternoon flight activity of 19-43 and 11-34 honey bees per minute, respectively.

scholarly journals An easy-to-manage two-entrance honey bee hive system for greenhouse pollination that improves fruit production

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e589101120029
Author(s):  
Beatriz de Jesus Rodrigues ◽  
Omar Jorge Sabbag ◽  
Gustavo do Valle Polycarpo ◽  
David De Jong ◽  
Daniel Nicodemo
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Cucurbita Pepo ◽  
Female Flower ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Flight Direction ◽  
Hand Pollination ◽  
Bee Colonies

An alternative two-entrance hive system demonstrated here is less taxing for the bee colonies. Bees are directed to forage inside the greenhouse when the crop is in flower, and only have access to the outside after anthesis. Consequently, there are no bees in the greenhouse in the afternoon, facilitating crop management. This system allows the farmer to control bee access to the crop without the need for a smoker or protective equipment. Using this system, we compared pollination by honey bees (Apis mellifera) to hand pollination of zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo) in greenhouses, during two crop seasons. Data included number of flower visits by the bees, fruit production, and the time and consequent labor costs needed to control bee flight direction versus the costs of hand pollination. In the greenhouses with bees, each female flower received a mean of more than 40 bee visits. When eight or more bees visited a flower, the fruits were significantly heavier than with manual pollination (313 versus 232 g, respectively). Total production was increased 41% with bee pollination. Using bee pollination increased profit over 12%, taking into account hive rental and labor costs for hand pollination versus manipulating the hive entrances.

scholarly journals The Italian National Beekeeping Registry (BDNA) as a Tool to Identify Areas Suitable for Controlled Mating of Honey Bees in Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5279
Author(s):  
Franco Mutinelli ◽  
Matteo Mazzucato ◽  
Marco Barbujani ◽  
Emanuele Carpana ◽  
Vincenzo Di Salvo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Soil Classification ◽  
Geospatial Data ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Queen Bees ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Italian Territory

Honey bee mating is difficult to control as it occurs in flight, several kilometers away from the hive of origin of both queens and drones. In recent years, there has been an increase in the introduction into Italy of queen bees and swarms originating from interracial crossings (especially those known as “Buckfast”), or belonging to non-native subspecies. Consequently, there is a strong need to establish areas suitable for controlled mating. The Italian national beekeeping registry (BDNA) has been recently set up to monitor the position of apiaries and movement of hives, with the purpose of economic and sanitary protection and improvement of bee heritage and food safety. The BDNA was, thus, deemed a suitable tool to explore the availability of areas that could be used as mating stations. Specific criteria, such as not be classified as wetlands, altitude below 1500 m a.s.l., distance of at least 6000 m from an apiary, and distance of at least 1500 m from the national terrestrial border, were selected for defining the mating stations. Furthermore, all the remaining Italian national territory was considered suitable for settlement of mating stations, including towns, industrial settlements, and roads. Based on these criteria, the following methodological framework was applied: (1) collection of the required data (i.e., apiaries coordinates, geospatial data on soil classification, geospatial data on terrain altitude, Italian boundary geospatial data); (2) calculation for the excluded areas according with the criteria listed above; (3) calculation of the mating areas by means of the difference between the entire Italian territory and the excluded areas. The database of BDNA was used to identify them. Appropriate databases and software were used to exclude the areas of the Italian national territory that did not fulfill the established criteria. In this paper, we report the procedure applied to identify on maps the areas suitable for controlled mating of queen bees in the Italian national territory based on data currently available in the BDNA.

scholarly journals Honey Bee Pollination Requirements for Triploid Watermelon

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1268-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Alan Walters
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Citrullus Lanatus ◽  
Hollow Heart ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Soluble Solids ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Male Flowers ◽  
Triploid Watermelon

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are important pollinators of triploid watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai]. Pistillate (or female) watermelon flowers require multiple honey bee or other wild bee visitations after visiting staminate (or male) flowers for fruit set, and pollination is even more of a concern in triploid watermelon production since staminate flowers contain mostly nonviable pollen. Six honey bee visitation treatments—1) no visitation control, 2) two visits, 3) four visits, 4) eight visits, 5) 16 visits, and 6) open-pollinated control—were evaluated to determine the effectiveness of honey bee pollination on `Millionaire' triploid watermelon fruit set, yield, and quality utilizing `Crimson Sweet' at a 33% pollenizer frequency. `Millionaire' quality characters (hollow heart disorder or percent soluble solids) did not differ (P > 0.05) between honey bee pollination treatments. The open-pollinated control provided the highest fruit set rate (80%) and the greatest triploid watermelon numbers and weights per plot compared to all other honey bee visitation treatments. Fruit set, and fruit numbers and weights per plot increased linearly as number of honey bee visits to pistillate flowers increased from 0 (no visit control) to the open-pollinated control (about 24 visits). This study indicated that between 16 and 24 honey bee visits are required to achieve maximum triploid watermelon fruit set and yields at a 33% pollenizer frequency, which is twice the number of honey bee visits required by seeded watermelons to achieve similar results. This is probably due to many honey bees visiting staminate triploid watermelon flowers (that are in close proximity) before visiting pistillate flowers thus providing mostly nonviable pollen that is useless for fruit set and development. Therefore, more honey bee visits to pistillate triploid watermelon flowers would be required to achieve maximum fruit set and subsequent development compared to seeded watermelons.

scholarly journals Effect of honey bee pollination and curd scooping on seed yield of cauliflower

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Rouf ◽  
MA Rahim ◽  
MA Siddique ◽  
MB Meah
Keyword(s):  
Seed Production ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
Seed Yield ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Maximum Yield ◽  
Open Pollination ◽  
Bee Pollination ◽  
Yield Attributes ◽  
Number Of Seeds ◽  
Plant Length

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of honey bee pollination and curd scooping on seed production of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) cv. ‘Poushali’. Eighteen combinations of treatments comprising three types of pollination viz., open pollination (natural pollination), using bees for pollination inside net (planned pollination) and plants inside net without bees (control) and six kinds of curd scooping viz., 25%, 50% and 75% of curd cutting, cross curd cutting, central curd cutting and no curd cutting (control). Honey bee (Apis cerana L.) was used as pollinator. Seed yield and yield attributes were significantly influenced by both factors and their combinations. Central curd cutting influenced early flowering and siliqua maturity compared to other curd cutting treatments. Planned honey bee pollination was found to inflict maximum impact on the seed production of cauliflower with an increase in seed yield of 45.46% and 23.17% higher over plants grown inside net without bees and open pollination, respectively. Central curd scooping increased 26.52% higher yield than that of no curd cutting treatment. Planned bee pollination and central curd cutting independently as well as in combination gave the maximum yield attributes of seed viz., primary and secondary flower stalks/plant, number of siliquas/plant, length of siliqua, number of seeds/siliqua,1000 seed weight, seed yield and seed germination percent of cauliflower. Planned pollination coupled with central curd cutting gave the maximum seed yield of 607.43 kg/ha in cauliflower.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 41(2): 251-258, June 2016

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