Using Commercial Bumble Bee Colonies as Backup Pollinators for Honey Bees to Produce Cucumbers and Watermelons

Abstract

<jats:p>The effectiveness of bumble bees, <jats:italic>Bombus impatiens</jats:italic> Cresson, and honey bees, <jats:italic>Apis mellifera</jats:italic> L., on the pollination of cucumber, <jats:italic>Cucumis sativus</jats:italic> L., and watermelon, <jats:italic>Citrullus lanatus</jats:italic> (Thunb.) Matsum. &amp; Nakai, was compared under field conditions. Comparisons were based on fruit abortion rates and seed set as influenced by bee type (honey bee or bumble bee) and the number of bee visits to treatment flowers (1, 6, 12, and 18 bee visits), plus two controls: a no-visit treatment and an open-pollinated (unrestricted visitation) treatment. For both crops, an increased number of bee visits had a strong positive effect on fruit and seed set. All cucumber and watermelon flowers bagged to prevent insect visitation aborted, demonstrating the need for active transfer of pollen between staminate and pistillate flowers. Bumble bee-visited flowers consistently had lower abortion rates and higher seed sets in the cucumber and watermelon studies than did honey bee-visited flowers when compared at the same bee visitation level. Only slight differences in fruit abortion rates were detected between bee types in the watermelon study. However, abortion rates for bumble bee-visited flowers were consistently less than those for honey bee-visited flowers when compared at equal bee visitation levels, with one exception at the 12 bee visit level. As the number of honey bee colonies continues to decline due to parasitic mite pests and based on the data obtained, we conclude that bumble bees have a great potential to serve as a supplemental pollinator for cucumbers, watermelons, and possibly other vine crops, when honey bees available for rental are in limited supply.</jats:p>

Pollination Value of Male Bees: The Specialist BeePeponapis pruinosa(Apidae) at Summer Squash (Cucurbita pepo)

“…Thus, Tepedino (1981) showed that single bee visits were rarely sufÞcient to fully pollinate a zucchini ßower (also C. pepo), but a second ßoral visit from a female Peponapis or a honey bee could substantially improve fruit growth. Additional ßoral visits by bees were also reported to improve pollination and fruiting at pumpkin (C. pepo) (Jaycox et al 1975), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) (Stanghellini et al 1998). Fruit abortion became negligible and seed set maximal when ßowers of these latter crops receive 12 or more visits from managed bumblebees or honey bees.…”

A Review and Bibliography of the Literature of Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder: A Poorly Understood Epidemic that Clearly Threatens the Successful Pollination of Billions of Dollars of Crops in America

“…But bumblebees have clear advantages over honeybees in some selected crops. Partly because of their extended "tongue" anatomy, bumblebees may actually be superior, overall, to honeybees for Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 23:41 04 January 2015 cranberries, red clover, alfalfa (Holm 1966), watermelons, and cucumbers (Stanghellini, Ambrose, and Schultheis 1998); even though there are actually lesser-known crop-specific bees that do an even better job on some of these crops, which will be discussed below.…”

Pollen Mobilization in Selected Cucurbitaceae and the Putative Effects of Pollinator Abundance on Pollen Depletion Rates

“…For the past seven years, we have been evaluating the potential of commercial bumble bee (Bombus impatiens Cresson) colonies as alternative pollinators for honey bees on selected vine crops (Stanghellini et al, 1997(Stanghellini et al, , 1998a(Stanghellini et al, , 1998b(Stanghellini et al, , 2002. As an adjunct to this research, we were afforded the opportunity to investigate pollen mobilization on these crops.…”