ISHS Acta Horticulturae 288: VI International Symposium on Pollination
THE INFLUENCE OF NECTAR AND POLLEN AVAILABILITY AND BLOSSOM DENSITY ON THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF ALMOND CULTIVARS TO HONEYBEES |
| Authors: | G. DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. Loper, D. Eisikowitch, R. Thorp |
| Abstract:
The amount of nectar and pollen per blossom, the number of blossoms per meter, and the number of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) foraging trees of five almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill) D.A. Webb] cultivars ('NePlus', 'Nonpareil', 'Price', 'Peerless', and 'Mission') were measured. The cultivars did not differ in the amount of nectar per blossom in year-1, but in year-2 'Mission' averaged more nectar per blossom than the others. The concentration of total dissolved solids in the nectar did not differ among cultivars in either year. In the first year 'Peerless' had significantly less pollen per blossom than the all other cultivars except 'Nonpareil'. There were no significant differences among the cultivars in the second year. 'Mission' and 'Peerless' had the most blossoms per meter of branch in year-1 'and 'NePlus' the least, while in year-2 'NePlus' had the most blossoms per meter and 'Mission' and 'Price' the least. The number of foraging honey bees per blossom did not differ among the cultivars in either year. In both years cultivars with the greatest number of blossoms per meter had the most nectar and pollen per meter, and attracted the greatest number of honey bees thus reflecting the differences in resource availability per meter of branch. | |
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