Effect of Honey Bee Foraging Behaviors on ‘Delicious’ Apple Set1

Abstract

‘Delicious’ apple flowers (Malus domestica Borkh.) set very few fruit after receiving single visits from honey bees (Apis meilifera L.) that foraged for nectar while standing on the flower petals. Yield from these flowers was similar to the yield from unpollinated blossoms. Much higher sets were observed in blossoms that were hand-pollinated, and on flowers visited only once by pollen-foraging or nectar-foraging bees that worked from on top of the stamens. Final yields from the latter 3 treatments were very similar, though generally lower than would be commercially desirable.

Biology, Genetic Diversity, and Conservation of Wild Bees in Tree Fruit Orchards

“…Diverse bee communities result in higher pollination rates compared to on the pollination done by only one or even a small number of bee species. Bee species vary in their pollination efficiency because they vary in their pollen transporting morphology [56,297,298], pollen load capacity [299], foraging distance from nesting site [117], duration of foraging trips and longer activity periods [300], and resilience in less favorable weather conditions [301][302][303], floral resource gathering strategy, such as prioritizing the collection of pollen over nectar [304], visiting male flowers more than female flowers [305], buzz sonication [306], and amount of non-foraging work (e.g. nest construction) performed [307].…”

Supplementing honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies with pollen increases their pollinating activity on nectariferous crops with anthers isolated from stigmas

“…In hermaphrodite crops that experience nectar theft from nectar foragers and for which pollen foragers are better pollinators, like apple tree ( Malus domestica Borkh. [Rosales: Rosaceae]; Robinson and Fell 1981 , Thomson and Goodell 2001 ), or in crops that rely only on pollen foragers for pollination such as kiwifruit ( Actinidia deliciosa C. F. Liang & A. R. Ferguson C. F. Liang & A. R. Ferguson [Ericales: Actinidiaceae]), some authors have proposed to increase the pollen foraging activity by fitting hives with pollen traps ( Webster et al 1985 , Gemeda et al 2018 ), by treating them with brood pheromone ( Pankiw 2004 , Sagili et al 2015 ), or by removing pollen stores ( Tsirakoglou et al 1997 ). The sequential introduction of colonies and the provision of bumble bee colonies or mason bees can also help decreasing honey bee nectar theft and enhancing cross-pollination by increasing honey bee movements between rows of different cultivars ( Stern et al 2001 , 2004 , 2005 , Brittain et al 2013 , Sapir et al 2017 , Eeraerts et al 2020 ).…”