Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización, INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina.
Centro de Investigación en Abejas Sociales (CIAS) (IIPROSAM-CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, CP 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 21;10(1):3177. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59995-0.
Wild pollinators are declining and the number of managed honey bee colonies is growing slower than agricultural demands for pollination. Because of these contrasting trends in pollinator demand and availability, breeding programs for many pollinator-dependent crops have focused on reducing the need for pollinators. Although numerous crop varieties are now available in the market with the label of pollinator-independent, the real dependence of these varieties on pollinators is mostly unknown. We evaluated the hypothesis of pollinator independence in the Independence almond variety, the fastest growing variety in California that is the main almond production region in the world. In this presumed pollinator-independent variety, we measured the effect of honey bees on fruit set, yield, and kernel nutritional quality at tree level. Fruit set was 60% higher in bee-pollinated than bee-isolated trees, which translated into a 20% increase in kernel yield. Despite its effect on almond production, there was no evidence that bee visitation affected almond nutritional quality. Based on these results, we recommend the use of bees, whether they are wild or managed, to maximize yield even in self-fertile almond varieties.
野生传粉媒介正在减少，而管理的蜜蜂群体数量的增长速度慢于农业对授粉的需求。由于传粉媒介需求和供应的这些相反趋势，许多依赖传粉媒介的作物的繁殖计划侧重于减少对传粉媒介的需求。尽管现在市场上有许多带有“无需传粉媒介”标签的作物品种，但这些品种对传粉媒介的真正依赖程度大多未知。我们评估了加利福尼亚州生长最快的品种——独立性杏仁品种的无需传粉媒介的假设，该品种是世界上主要的杏仁生产地区。在这个假定的无需传粉媒介的品种中，我们在树水平上测量了蜜蜂对坐果、产量和核仁营养品质的影响。蜜蜂授粉的坐果率比蜜蜂隔离的树高出 60%，这转化为核仁产量增加了 20%。尽管蜜蜂访问对杏仁生产有影响，但没有证据表明它会影响杏仁的营养品质。基于这些结果，我们建议即使在自花授粉的杏仁品种中，也要使用蜜蜂，无论是野生的还是管理的，以最大限度地提高产量。
