Bailes Emily J, Pattrick Jonathan G, Glover Beverley J
School of Biological Sciences Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK.
Department of Plant Sciences University of Cambridge Cambridge UK.
Ecol Evol. 2018 Feb 18;8(6):3161-3171. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3851. eCollection 2018 Mar.
Global consumption of crops with a yield that is dependent on animal pollinators is growing, with greater areas planted each year. However, the floral traits that influence pollinator visitation are not usually the focus of breeding programmes, and therefore, it is likely that yield improvements may be made by optimizing floral traits to enhance pollinator visitation rates. We investigated the variation present in the floral reward of the bee-pollinated crop (field bean). We examined the genetic potential for breeding flowers with a greater reward into current commercial varieties and used bee behavioral experiments to gain insight into the optimal nectar concentration to maximize bee preference. There was a large range of variation in the amount of pollen and nectar reward of flowers in the genotypes investigated. Bee behavioral experiments using nectar sugar concentrations found in lines suggest that prefers 55% w/w sugar solution over 40% w/w, but has no preference between 55% w/w and 68% w/w sugar solution. We provide a first indication of the force required to open flowers. Our results provide a valuable starting point toward breeding for varieties with optimized floral reward. Field studies are now needed to verify whether the genetic potential for breeding more rewarding flowers can translate into higher yield and yield stability.
全球对产量依赖动物传粉者的作物的消费量不断增长，每年种植面积都在扩大。然而，影响传粉者访花的花部性状通常不是育种计划的重点，因此，通过优化花部性状以提高传粉者访花率可能会提高产量。我们研究了蜜蜂授粉作物（蚕豆）花部报酬的变异情况。我们研究了将具有更高报酬的花朵培育到现有商业品种中的遗传潜力，并通过蜜蜂行为实验来深入了解使蜜蜂偏好最大化的最佳花蜜浓度。在所研究的基因型中，花朵的花粉和花蜜报酬量存在很大差异。使用品系中发现的花蜜糖浓度进行的蜜蜂行为实验表明，与40%（重量/重量）的糖溶液相比，蜜蜂更喜欢55%（重量/重量）的糖溶液，但在55%（重量/重量）和68%（重量/重量）的糖溶液之间没有偏好。我们首次给出了打开花朵所需力量的指标。我们的结果为培育具有优化花部报酬的品种提供了一个有价值的起点。现在需要进行田间研究，以验证培育更具报酬性花朵的遗传潜力是否能转化为更高的产量和产量稳定性。
