POLLINATOR-FRIENDLY PRACTICES TO ENHANCE CROP PRODUCTION IN APPLES AND PEARS

LUCAS GARIBALDI; BENOÎT GESLIN; MARCELO AIZEN; NANCY GARCIA; LE FEON VIOLETTE; ANA JULIA PEREIRA; BERNARD VAISSIÈRE

RIBEIRÃO PRETO

Encuentro; XI ENCONTRO SOBRE ABELHAS; 2015

Deployment of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in cultivated fields is a widely used management practice to enhance crop yield through pollination. However, worldwide the stock of domesticated honey bees is growing slower than the agricultural demand for pollination which could lead to a current or future mismatch between supply and demand. We thus need to develop friendly managing procedures that can enhance the effectiveness of bees to pollinate crops. Honey bees are the most commonly used bee to pollinate a wide array of crops globally, however their contribution to crop yield quantity and quality remains largely unknown for most crops. We studied the pollination of pear and apple (the first and third most exported fruit by weight in Argentina, respectively) in the main fruit producing area of Argentina (Neuquén region, North Patagonia) and the Impact of pollinator management on fructification. During the flowering of 2014, we sampled 88 trees of apples and pears distributed across 24 farms, from Pollination to fruit set and harvest quality. In half of the farms, we installed high quality colonies of Apis mellifera, which were previously prepared following a standard protocol. These colonies were free of American and European foulbrood, with a rate of Varroa infestation