Targeted crop pollination by training honey bees: advances and perspectives

FARINA, WALTER M.; ARENAS, ANDRÉS; ESTRAVIS-BARCALA, M. CECILIA; PALOTTINI, FLORENCIA

Frontiers in Bee Science

FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS

Año: 2023 vol. 1

As pollinator-dependent crops continue to expand globally, managementstrategies are needed to meet the current demand for pollination services.Improving the efficiency of pollinators depends on knowledge about cropplant biology as well as pollinator behavior. In this sense, we will review thescope and challenges of implementing a targeted pollination strategy based onthe behavioral individual and social plasticity of the honey bee Apis mellifera.Here we summarize current knowledge on the bees´ ability to perceive, learnand generalize floral odors, the bias of their foraging preferences after in-hiveexperiences and the transfer of food source information within the social contextof the colony, all aspects that impact on foraging decisions and can be used todirect pollinators to target crops. We focused on describing how key olfactorycues that mimic crop floral scents are acquired in the hive and propagate amongcolony mates to guide foraging to specific crops. Knowledge gaps, includingvolatiles variability between flowers of the same or different crop varieties,alternative managed pollinators, and potential impact on food industryare discussed.