Articles
Pollination insights – optimizing honey bee mediated pollination in highbush blueberry
Article number
1440_53
Pages
383 – 390
Language
English
Abstract
Many highbush blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) growers depend on honey bees (Apis mellifera) to provide pollination services.
However, pollination is often variable, and insufficient pollination limits growers from achieving their full yield potential.
Furthermore, research-driven recommendations and tools to promote honey bee-mediated pollination are lacking.
The cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional Blueberry Pollination Project in the United States seeks to address these barriers by investigating best practices to achieve optimal pollination and creating decision aid systems that growers, beekeepers, and crop consultants can use to inform their pollination strategies.
Research insights from this project show partial self-sterility necessitates cross-pollination for optimal yields and fruit quality in some northern and southern highbush blueberry cultivars.
Additionally, honey bee hive placement as well as the combination of hive stocking density and colony strength impact honey bee activity and some measures of pollination success.
Extreme heat events also threaten pollen viability and pollination success.
Decision aid systems that predict bloom phenology for timely arrival and departure of honey bee hives and guide optimal hive stocking densities are under development and will soon be introduced to commercial growers in the United States.
Continued research, outreach, and development of decision aid systems will promote the use of evidence-based crop pollination management and outcomes of this project will benefit blueberry growers and beekeepers to improve the long-term sustainability of blueberry production.
However, pollination is often variable, and insufficient pollination limits growers from achieving their full yield potential.
Furthermore, research-driven recommendations and tools to promote honey bee-mediated pollination are lacking.
The cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional Blueberry Pollination Project in the United States seeks to address these barriers by investigating best practices to achieve optimal pollination and creating decision aid systems that growers, beekeepers, and crop consultants can use to inform their pollination strategies.
Research insights from this project show partial self-sterility necessitates cross-pollination for optimal yields and fruit quality in some northern and southern highbush blueberry cultivars.
Additionally, honey bee hive placement as well as the combination of hive stocking density and colony strength impact honey bee activity and some measures of pollination success.
Extreme heat events also threaten pollen viability and pollination success.
Decision aid systems that predict bloom phenology for timely arrival and departure of honey bee hives and guide optimal hive stocking densities are under development and will soon be introduced to commercial growers in the United States.
Continued research, outreach, and development of decision aid systems will promote the use of evidence-based crop pollination management and outcomes of this project will benefit blueberry growers and beekeepers to improve the long-term sustainability of blueberry production.
Publication
Authors
L.W. DeVetter, S. Chabert, M. Eeraerts, R.E. Mallinger, J. Walters, E. Rogers, L. Goldstein, S.P. Galinato, C. Kogan, K. Brouwer, M.O. Milbrath, A. Melathopoulos, R. Isaacs
Keywords
Apis mellifera, bees, ecosystem service, integrated crop pollination, pollinator, Vaccinium
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