Optimization of pollination of greenhouse-grown tomatoes by bumblebees

熊蜂对温室番茄授粉的优化

• 批准号: BB/Z51438X/1
• 负责人: Geraldine Wright
• 金额: $ 98.96万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FZ51438X%2F1
• 关键词: Optimization; pollination; greenhouse; grown; tomatoes

Bees play a critical role as pollinators of most fruit and vegetable crops. Greenhouse grown tomatoes require active pollen transfer, either through mechanical means or by foraging bees such as the domesticated bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. In greenhouses, tomatoes pollinated by bumblebees have larger fruit and greater yield per hectare than those pollinated mechanically. However, using bumblebees has some drawbacks. Growers are limited to use the UK native subspecies of the buff-tailed bumblebee, B. terrestris audax, to prevent the spread of disease to wild bumblebees. However, these colonies generally decline within 2-4 weeks of placement and exhibit relatively poor pollination rates on soft fruit and vegetable crops including commercially-valuable tomato varieties. The reasons for their poor performance are unknown. At the present, growers place colonies in glasshouses without any direct monitoring of the colonies. With the exception of counting bitemarks on flowers left by visiting bees, they also have no way to relate the behaviour of the bees to actual pollination rate and yield of tomatoes. Here, we propose to develop methods to monitor and improve the management of B.terrestris audax on UK grown tomatoes in collaboration with the UK's biggest glasshouse tomato grower, Thanet Earth (Kent) and sensor-based bee technology company, Bee-Ops.Our project has four main objectives: (1) To measure the pollination efficiency of bumblebee colonies in tomato crops in greenhouses (2) To identify how colony phase and nutritional state influence colony longevity and foraging rate of bumblebee colonies; (3) To improve the pollination of tomatoes by B. terrestris audax through in-colony exposure to floral chemical cues; (4) To create a strategy for improved colony management that optimizes pollination rate using data from Objs 1-3.In Obj 1, through collaboration with Bee-Ops, we will employ the latest AI and sensor technology to monitor the activity of B.terrestris audax colonies in commercial glasshouses at Thanet Earth. Sensor technology will enable us to provide the growers important data about the current state of pollination: a rating of the quality of the colonies received from their preferred suppliers and high resolution information about floral visitation and foraging rate of colonies for specific varieties and its influence on yields under particular conditions (e.g. time of year, temperature). In Obj 2, we will comprehensively test how the developmental phase of the colony introduced to the glasshouse influences foraging rate. Using an optimized pollen substitute for bumblebees developed by Wright and Stevenson's laboratories, we aim to improve colony longevity by studying how nutritional intervention early in colony development affects the colony's population size and foraging rate. In Obj 3, we will measure the volatile compounds emitted by tomato floral odours. Using methods developed in Stevenson's laboratory, we will train bees to learn to orient towards tomato floral scents by exposing bees in colonies to tomato floral scent in association with caffeinated nectar. These data will form the basis of a strategy devised in Obj 4 to show how specific interventions improve the pollination efficiency of bumblebees on specific tomato varietals. Together with our project partners, we will devise new strategies for optimal tomato pollination. We predict that the combination of methods we develop through this proposal will generalize to bumblebee pollination of other fruit and vegetable crops grown in greenhouses or polytunnels.

蜜蜂作为大多数水果和蔬菜作物的授粉媒介发挥着至关重要的作用。温室种植的西红柿需要主动的花粉转移，要么通过机械方式，要么通过驯化的熊蜂、Bombus terrestris 等觅食蜜蜂。在温室中，与机械授粉的西红柿相比，熊蜂授粉的西红柿果实更大，每公顷产量更高。然而，使用大黄蜂有一些缺点。种植者仅限使用英国本土的黄尾熊蜂亚种 B. terrestris audax，以防止疾病传播给野生熊蜂。然而，这些菌落通常在放置后 2-4 周内衰退，并且对软质水果和蔬菜作物（包括具有商业价值的番茄品种）表现出相对较差的授粉率。他们表现不佳的原因尚不清楚。目前，种植者将菌落放置在温室中，而没有对菌落进行任何直接监测。除了计算来访蜜蜂在花朵上留下的咬痕之外，他们也无法将蜜蜂的行为与番茄的实际授粉率和产量联系起来。在这里，我们建议与英国最大的温室番茄种植者 Thanet Earth（肯特）和基于传感器的蜜蜂技术公司 Bee-Ops 合作，开发方法来监测和改善英国种植番茄上的 B.terrestris audax 管理。项目有四个主要目标：(1) 测量温室番茄作物中熊蜂群体的授粉效率 (2) 确定群体阶段和营养状态如何影响群体寿命和觅食率熊蜂群； (3) 通过在菌落内暴露于花卉化学线索来改善 B. terrestris audax 对番茄的授粉； (4) 使用 Objs 1-3 的数据制定改进蜂群管理的策略，优化授粉率。在 Obj 1 中，通过与 Bee-Ops 合作，我们将采用最新的人工智能和传感器技术来监测 B 的活动。萨尼特地球商业温室中的 terrestris audax 菌落。传感器技术将使我们能够为种植者提供有关当前授粉状态的重要数据：对从其首选供应商处收到的菌落质量进行评级，以及有关特定品种的花访问和菌落觅食率及其影响的高分辨率信息。特定条件下的产量（例如一年中的时间、温度）。在目标2中，我们将全面测试引入温室的蜂群的发育阶段如何影响觅食率。使用赖特和史蒂文森实验室开发的优化的熊蜂花粉替代品，我们的目标是通过研究蜂群发育早期的营养干预如何影响蜂群的种群规模和觅食率来提高蜂群的寿命。在 Obj 3 中，我们将测量番茄花香散发的挥发性化合物。使用史蒂文森实验室开发的方法，我们将通过将蜂群中的蜜蜂暴露于与含咖啡因花蜜相关的番茄花香中来训练蜜蜂学会辨别番茄花香。这些数据将构成 Obj 4 中设计的策略的基础，以显示特定干预措施如何提高熊蜂对特定番茄品种的授粉效率。我们将与我们的项目合作伙伴一起制定最佳番茄授粉的新策略。我们预测，我们通过该提案开发的方法组合将推广到温室或塑料隧道中种植的其他水果和蔬菜作物的熊蜂授粉。