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Increasing seed yield in Papaver somniferum L. with the use of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

conference contribution
posted on 2023-05-23, 12:14 authored by Merry, AM, Stephen CorkreyStephen Corkrey, Westmore, GC, Geoffrey DeanGeoffrey Dean
Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are known to play a role in pollination of poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) and could be used in seed crops to increase yield. Experiments were conducted on commercial poppy crops in northern Tasmania to establish the relationship between a gradient of honeybees and seed yield of poppy. Three beehives were grouped in the centre of three commercial poppy fields and an additional three fields were chosen that had no hives as controls. Plots were established in a spiral design every 5 m from 10 m to 140 m radius from the centre, thus having plots ranging over distance from a higher density to a lower density of bees pollinating the flowers at treatment sites. There were significantly more seeds per capsule for all three capsule size classes: large, >25 mm; medium, 15-25 mm; and small, <15 mm, at the sites with beehives compared to the control. In addition for the large capsules there was a significant radial effect at the bee sites, with more seeds per capsule closer to the hive than further away. There was no radial effect for the control. For the medium sized capsules there was a similar radial trend for the sites with beehives and the inverse occurred at the control sites. This suggested that native pollinating insects were potentially coming in from the crop edge and increasing seed per capsule closer to the edge compared to towards the centre of the crop. Insect pollinations were also monitored using pan traps at set distances from the centre of the crop at each site. There were significantly more native pollinators captured at the edge of the crop than at any other distance from the centre of the field. Honeybees have been shown to increase yield in commercial poppy crops, and can be used to increase yield in crops were the yield of genetic superior seed is important.

History

Publication title

Proceedings from the 18th Australian Agronomy Conference 2017

Editors

G O'Leary, R Armstrong, L Hafner

Pagination

1-4

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

Australian Society of Agronomy

Place of publication

Australia

Event title

18th Australian Agronomy Conference 2017

Event Venue

Ballarat, Victoria

Date of Event (Start Date)

2017-09-24

Date of Event (End Date)

2017-09-28

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 the Authors and the Australian Society of Agronomy

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Horticultural crops not elsewhere classified

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