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Limited cross plant movement and non-crop preferences reduce the efficiency of honey bees as pollinators of hybrid carrot seed crops
Citation
Gaffney, A and Bohman, B and Quarrell, SR and Brown, PH and Allen, GR, Limited cross plant movement and non-crop preferences reduce the efficiency of honey bees as pollinators of hybrid carrot seed crops, Insects, 10, (2) Article 34. ISSN 2075-4450 (2019) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.3390/insects10020034
Abstract
Pollination rates in hybrid carrot crops remain limited after introduction of honey bee hives. In this study, honey bee foraging behaviour was observed in commercial hybrid carrot seed crops. Significantly more visits were made to male-fertile (MF) rather than cytoplasmically male-sterile (CMS) flowers. Pollen was collected from bees returning to a hive, to determine daily variation in pollen loads collected and to what level the bees were foraging for carrot pollen. Honey bees visited a wide range of alternative pollen sources and made relatively few visits to carrot plants throughout the period of flowering. Visitation rates to other individual floral sources fluctuated but visitation to carrot was consistently low. The underlying rate of carrot pollen visits among collecting trips was modelled and estimated to be as low as 1.4%, a likely cause of the limited success implementing honey bee hives in carrot crops.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | pollination, carrot, seed, honey bee |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Horticultural production |
| Research Field: | Horticultural production not elsewhere classified |
| Objective Division: | Plant Production and Plant Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Horticultural crops |
| Objective Field: | Field grown vegetable crops |
| UTAS Author: | Gaffney, A (Ms Ann Gaffney) |
| UTAS Author: | Quarrell, SR (Dr Stephen Quarrell) |
| UTAS Author: | Brown, PH (Professor Phil Brown) |
| UTAS Author: | Allen, GR (Associate Professor Geoff Allen) |
| ID Code: | 130432 |
| Year Published: | 2019 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
| Deposited By: | TIA - Research Institute |
| Deposited On: | 2019-01-24 |
| Last Modified: | 2019-03-05 |
| Downloads: | 101 View Download Statistics |
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