ISHS Acta Horticulturae 288: VI International Symposium on Pollination
HONEY BEE STOCKING RATE, POLLINATOR VISITATION, AND POLLINATION EFFECTIVENESS IN UPLAND COTTON GROWN FOR HYBRID SEED PRODUCTION |
| Author: | B. E. Vaissière |
| Abstract:
Economical production of F1 hybrid seed of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.; Malvaceae) using honey bees, Apis mellifera L., as pollinators remains difficult. The relationship between the stocking rate (imported colonies. ha-1 of target crop), the seasonal visitation rate (bees/100 flowers), and pollination effectiveness (seed cotton yield ratio of male-sterile [MS] over male-fertile [MF] lines) were investigated in 16 fields of hybrid cotton parental lines in the Texas High Plains between 1980 and 1982. Honey bees visited preferentially MS flowers over MF cotton flowers by a 3.22 ratio. The seasonal density of honey bees foraging on MF flowers only was significantly related to the stocking rate, with an exponential model providing the best fit. Pollination effectiveness varied proportionally to the logarithm of the bee visitation rate to MF cotton flowers so that, overall, pollination effectiveness was linearly related to the stocking rate (Y = 0.177 + 0.058X; r2 = 0.980; n = 8, SP < 0.001). | |
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