Feeding sugar syrup to honey bee (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) colonies to increase kiwifruit (<i>Actinidia deliciosa</i>) pollen collection: effects of frequency, quantity and time of day

Goodwin, Mark; Houten, A. Ten

doi:10.1080/00218839.1991.11101233

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Even for Group 11 bees where sugar feeding was not effective at significantly increasing pollen count on bees, there was significantly more pollen collected by the bees in the traps. A similar effect was found by Goodwin and Ten Houten (1991) when they fed beehives 1 L sugar syrup daily in a 10 ha kiwifruit orchard. However, when hives were fed just sugar syrup (Group 10) body pollen counts were no different from controls.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Methods and modifications to enhance the abundance of pollen on forager honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) exiting from beehives: implications for contract pollination services

Manning

Sakai²,

Eaton³

2010

Australian Journal of Entomology

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Langstroth hives fitted with a modified lid with an entrance lined with soft felt or steel or plastic pollen traps or hives fitted with plastic pollen traps and sugar-fed significantly increased the pollen count on the bodies of exiting honey bees. In terms of utilising the research findings in contract pollination service where costs can determine profitability, the recommendation is for a trial in a commercial orchard (e.g. almond, apple, avocado, plum) of sugar-fed single hives fitted with plastic pollen traps. Despite the bees' destruction of the felts lining the modified lid entrances, the soft felt liner might be a worthwhile inclusion into any field trial.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Methods and modifications to enhance the abundance of pollen on forager honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) exiting from beehives: implications for contract pollination services

Manning

Sakai²,

Eaton³

2010

Australian Journal of Entomology

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“…Apiculturists have long been interested in developing methods of increasing the number of pollen foragers on a crop by managing honey bee colonies. Feeding colonies (Free 1 9 6 5~; Goodwin and Ten Houten 1991) or spraying crops with sugar syrup (Free 196521;Goodwin 1997) or spraying crops with synthetic honey bee queen mandibular pheromone (Currie et al 1992a(Currie et al , 1992bWinston and Slessor 1992, 1993 has been used successfully to increase numbers of honey bee foragers on the crop, and occasionally pollen foraging (Higo et al 1992). Feeding colonies (Free 1 9 6 5~; Goodwin and Ten Houten 1991) or spraying crops with sugar syrup (Free 196521;Goodwin 1997) or spraying crops with synthetic honey bee queen mandibular pheromone (Currie et al 1992a(Currie et al , 1992bWinston and Slessor 1992, 1993 has been used successfully to increase numbers of honey bee foragers on the crop, and occasionally pollen foraging (Higo et al 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen Storage and Foraging by Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Highbush Blueberries (Ericaceae), Cultivar Bluecrop

Dogterom

Winston

1999

Can Entomol

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The Canadian Entomologist 131: 757 -768 (1999) We investigated pollen and nectar foraging of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., from pollen-poor and pollen-rich, small and large colonies in blooming highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L. cv. Bluecrop fields. The proportion of pollen foragers differed significantly between pollen-rich and pollen-poor colonies after storage levels were manipulated, but foraging and pollen stores returned to similar levels within a week. No differences were found in small colonies, although the proportion of pollen foragers was high (46% and 45% from pollen-rich and pollen-poor colonies, respectively). Only 7.6% of pollen foragers canied Vaccinium sp. pollen in their loads independent of treatment, day, and colony size, whereas 60.8% of nectar foragers carried up to 100 tetrads of Vaccinium sp. pollen on their bodies. The average proportion of Vaccinium sp. pollen canied by nectar and pollen foragers per day and treatment was less than 10%. Our research indicates that when colonies are placed in fields of blooming blueberry flowers, pollen foraging is stimulated in large colonies with stores that are pollen poor, but predominantly for pollen types other than blueberry. This research indicates that nectar foragers are the major visitor of highbush blueberry cv. Bluecrop and suggests that increasing the number of nectar foragers rather than pollen foragers would result in more honey bees foraging on highbush blueberry, in particular cv. Bluecrop. Dogterom MH, Winston, ML. 1999. Stockage de pollen et qu&te de nourriture chez 1'Abeille domestique (Hymenoptera : Apidae) dans des champs d'airelles de corymbe (Ericaceae), cultivar Bluecrop. The Canadian Entomologist 131 : 757-768.

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“…mellifera to pear flowers might be due to the low sucrose content of the flowers’ nectar [ 16 ]. Sugar syrup feeding is likely to either divert honeybees that were visiting other flowers to the target plant or discourage them from collecting more nectar and encourage them instead to collect more pollen [ 24 , 32 , 35 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sugar syrup feeding increased sweet cherry pollen collection by 2.16-fold, field bean pollen collection by 3.27-fold, red clover pollen collection by 5.2-fold and kiwifruit pollen collection by 7.9-fold [ 32 , 35 ]. In our results, PTSS increased the number of pollen foragers, which might result in more honeybees foraging on pear flowers, thereby improve the possibility of pear pollen collection and pollination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollen trapping and sugar syrup feeding of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) enhance pollen collection of less preferred flowers

Gemeda

Luo

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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Pear (Pyrus bretschneideri) is characterized by being self-incompatible and dependent on cross-pollination to set fruit. Honeybee (Apis mellifera) is considered the most important pollinator of pear. Nevertheless, limited pollen transfer has been cited as the main cause of poor fruit set in many pear orchards. Here, we tested the following hypotheses: (i) colony manipulations increase the pollen collection tendency of honeybees and (ii) the proportion of pollen loads being returned to the hive is from the target plant. The technique reliably and rapidly estimates the pollination of honeybees tested under different colony manipulations: (1) using pollen trapping (PT); (2) PT with sugar syrup feeding (SS) (PTSS); (3) SS alone and (4) control without PT and SS. The results clearly show that the pollen collection of honeybees during the experiment was significantly affected (P < 0.05) by colony manipulations. The mean amount of pollen harvested daily was higher for PTSS (19.4 g) and PT (16.4 g) than for SS (12.85 g) and control (8.7 g) colonies. Therefore, PTSS was the most effective treatment for increasing pear pollen collection; other treatments such as PT and SS could also be useful. This study was important for determining how the behavior of honeybee colonies is shaped through colony manipulation to enhance pollen collection of less preferred pear flowers, which is critical when pollination is required.

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Feeding sugar syrup to honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies to increase kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) pollen collection: effects of frequency, quantity and time of day

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Methods and modifications to enhance the abundance of pollen on forager honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) exiting from beehives: implications for contract pollination services

Methods and modifications to enhance the abundance of pollen on forager honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) exiting from beehives: implications for contract pollination services

Pollen Storage and Foraging by Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Highbush Blueberries (Ericaceae), Cultivar Bluecrop

Pollen trapping and sugar syrup feeding of honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) enhance pollen collection of less preferred flowers

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