INDUSTRY NEWS
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You are better off using smaller placement of hives but spread around better , so that trees are not as far from hives .
- Professor Saul Cunningham
“ If you are looking for food in a whole street of restaurants , you could go to the restaurant that ’ s 5km at the end of the street or you could stop at the first really nice one you get to ,” he said . With that many flowers in an almond orchard during pollination , bees don ’ t have to move very far . “ If a bee finds a flower full of nectar and pollen it doesn ’ t fly to a flower that ’ s many hundreds of metres away , it stops at the first available flower ,” Professor Cunningham said .
Understanding bee behaviour can help maximise pollination efficiency .
There are benefits available to achieving higher rates of pollination As part of his research , Professor Cunningham also moved pollen in between flowers of compatible varieties using a paintbrush . This took place under normal pollination circumstances , when there were bees in the almond orchard . As a result of the hand pollination work more nuts were produced . Professor Cunningham said it was also possible to grow more nuts when whole trees were sprayed with pollen from a compatible variety . Using only bees to pollinate trees , 1.3 nuts per spur were observed , but this could be increased by 20 per cent with the other pollination methods .
Hive arrangements Professor Cunningham said the distance from a tree to a bee hive matters . “ The further you go from the hives the lower the number of flowers getting turned into nuts ,” he said . Hive density is also important according to Professor Cunningham . His research looked at density rates from 6.7 hives per hectare to less than 3 . “ If you back away on the number of hives per hectare you do immediately see a cost in terms of fewer nuts ," Professor Cunningham said .
Ideal deployment strategy Developing an ideal deployment strategy is complicated . Professor Cunningham said it would be influenced by how much you are paying per hive . If growers want to change how the hives are configured , this would need to be negotiated with the pollination provider .
Combining bees with artificial pollination methods may also increase yields .
Hive quality and other orchard variables play a role in pollination success too . “ The correct cost benefit equation varies from year to year ,” Professor Cunningham said . The different ways to arrange hives is enormous but getting them closer to the trees as much as possible will result in a better outcome . “ You are better off using smaller placement of hives but spread around better , so that trees are not as far from hives ,” Professor Cunningham said . The Almond Board of Australia intends to update its Honey Bee Best Management Practices guide to include information the on hive stocking and pollination efficiency .
industry . australianalmonds . com . au
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