Bees as pollinators of blueberries

Blueberry production is highly dependent on pollination by pollinating animals. In its natural range of northern temperate zones, blueberries are sought after by several different species of bees. Bumblebees are its main pollinators there.

Global demand for blueberries Vaccinium corymbosum it has increased significantly in recent years. As a result, the cultivation of blueberries has expanded far beyond the indigenous and pristine agricultural area, even in regions where bumblebees are absent. Some countries have also banned the import of bumblebees.

In South Africa, as in many regions of the world, honey bees are the only commercially available pollinators for blueberries. In a recent study, scientists investigated the benefits of pollinating honey bees for the yield of Ventura variety blueberry fruits. They compared the yields of flowers pollinated by bees with flowers that were excluded from the pollinators.

The study was carried out in 2016 in a one-hectare field with 15 honey bee colonies, a colony density typically used on commercial blueberry farms.

The results show that the honey bees significantly increased the mass and diameter of the berries. Therefore, pollination by bees can be an effective substitute for bumblebees in areas where bumblebees are not available.

However, manual pollination by humans works better than honey bees: the yields of blueberries when pollinated by honey bees were lower than the yields achieved by manual pollination. Hand pollination provided 36% more fruit mass than pollination by bees.

The presence of honey bees significantly increased the fruit mass of blueberries, which translates into significant economic benefits for farmers. The added value is extrapolated to more than 30.000 euros per hectare, which is more than profitable for the use of 15 colonies of honey bees.

Some varieties of blueberries might be more suitable for effective pollination by bees than the Ventura examined cultivar: Ventura has a long flower tube length (11,39 mm ± 0,4 mm), which probably makes it difficult for bees to access melliferous to the nectar at the bottom of the flower. to access. One possible way to solve this problem would be to develop varieties with shorter or wider petals.

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