Anhui Huaining blueberry bee pollination and bee colony management key technology
Hu Xingnian Kang Qizhong
Blueberries, berries, are plants of the genus Bilberry in the rhododendron family. Blueberry fruit is rich in sugar, acid and a variety of vitamins, but also rich in iron, potassium, zinc, calcium and other mineral elements, has a good nutritional and health care effect. The development of the blueberry industry and the development of blueberry products have broad prospects for development and can create huge economic and social benefits. Huaining County is a low hilly landform, unique soil and climatic conditions, blueberry cultivation is a local characteristic industry, rapid development, has now become one of the main blueberry planting areas in the Yangtze River Delta region. At present, the planting area of the county is 3600hm 2, the main planting varieties are more than 10 species, and the annual output value is more than 3 billion yuan, which will develop into a blueberry planting industrial belt of more than 6700hm2 in the future, effectively promoting the integration and development of the local first, second and third industries. At present, the large-scale cultivation of blueberries must consider pest control, economic benefits and food quality and safety issues. In order to improve the fruit setting rate, yield and quality of blueberries, and promote the healthy development of the bee industry, Huaining County carried out the integrated demonstration and promotion of blueberry bee pollination and green pest control technology from 2018 to 2020, summarizing the key points in blueberry bee pollination and bee colony management, in order to provide a reference for the use of bee pollination in blueberry production.
1 Botanical characteristics of blueberry flowers
Blueberry flowers are inflorescences, flowers are solitary or twins between the leaf axils, usually composed of 7 to 10 flowers, flowers are amphoteric, the flowers are lantern-shaped or barrel-shaped, the opening is downward, the stigma is hidden in the corolla, and pollination is difficult and ineffective by wind medium or large insects (because of its large body, it is difficult to enter the blueberry flower vessel). Through the 3-year blueberry bee pollination experiment demonstration, the author learned that blueberries can greatly improve the yield and quality of blueberries by using bee pollination than by wind medium self-pollination alone. If the number of wild bees and insects collecting flowers for pollination in the natural environment is very small or insufficient, only relying on natural wind pollination and self-pollination, the fruit set rate of blueberries is extremely low, and the yield is poor. Therefore, blueberry varieties with low self-pollination and large flowering must manually release bees to assist pollination to improve fruit set rate, yield and quality. In addition, pollinator trees of other blueberry varieties should be planted in the blueberry orchard in an appropriate proportion to improve the pollination rate of cross-flower and ensure the yield and quality of blueberries.
2 Biological characteristics of the Italian honey bee
Italian honey bee (A.m.ligustica Spinola) is one of the main bee species raised in China. The bee maintains strong group strength and fertility, high yield of bee products, and is good at collecting large-scale planting of blueberries and other fruit trees bulk honey sources, high economic benefits, popular with beekeepers. The Italian bee is small in shape, has a slender abdomen and a long beak (6.3 to 6.6 mm), allowing it to enter well and extend its beak into the blueberry corolla to touch the flower buds and chew pollen nectar. The characteristics of the Italian bee are more suitable for the honey pollination of blueberry flowers, which solves the problem that it is difficult for large-sized insects to enter the interior pollination of blueberry lantern flowers; in addition, the Italian bee fluff is wide and dense, the amount of sticky pollen is more, and the amount of honey powder collected by a certain number of bees in a unit time is correspondingly more. Generally, each box of bees can produce 20 kg of honey during the flowering period of a blueberry, and the ability of the bees to secrete royal jelly and store honey is particularly strong.
The blueberry honey collected by Yi Bee has a unique taste, rich nutrition, broad market prospects, and the price is 20 to 30 yuan / kg higher than other conventional honey, with significant economic benefits. Yi bees can still work actively in midsummer, have superior spleen performance, strong nest clearing ability, and are more resistant to nest insects. It is more suitable for pollination and honey mining at the flowering stage of blueberries in Huaining County, and the pollination effect and economic benefits are significantly higher than those of other bees, but the disadvantage is that the disease resistance is weak and the resistance to bee mites is not good.
3 Blueberry bee pollination benefits
Huaining County blueberry cultivation has a history of more than 20 years, the main varieties of planting, there are more than 10 varieties such as O'Neill, Baldwin, Brilliant, Missi, Jie Rabbit and so on. From 2018 to 2020, the author compared the Pollinating Blueberries of Italian Bees with the blueberries pollinated by wind media alone (40 mesh nylon mesh cover isolation), natural non-bee blueberries, etc., and the results showed that the fruit set rate of bee pollination blueberries was 6-8 times and 2-3 times that of bee-pollinated blueberries by wind-media self-pollination and natural non-release, respectively, and the yield increased by 60% and 30% compared with wind-media self-pollination and natural non-bee blueberries, respectively. The single fruit of bee pollination blueberry is significantly enlarged, the fruit is round and full, the quality is good, and the commerciality is excellent. The sales revenue of blueberries and fresh fruits increased by 98.94% and 50.6% respectively compared with the wind-media self-pollination and natural bee blueberries. The average honey production per box of bees in a blueberry honey harvesting season is 17.8kg, which is converted into 53.4kg/hm2 according to the number of bees released. Honey is uniformly acquired by enterprises, through processing, packaging to form a blueberry honey brand sales, coupled with royal jelly, pollen and other income, the total income of bee products 7800 yuan / hm 2. The large-scale implementation of bee pollination by blueberries can not only increase blueberry production, but also increase the income of bee products and increase the income of bee farmers, which not only improves economic benefits, but also brings good ecological and social benefits. This is in line with the national policy of "accelerating the promotion of bee pollination technology to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the beekeeping industry", and is also in line with the requirements of vigorously developing green agriculture.
4 Key points of bee pollination and colony management techniques
4.1 Bee colony admission and bee farm setting The appropriate period for bees in Huaining County to collect blueberry pollen nectar is from late March to late April. Bees can enter when blueberries are blooming 5% to 10% and withdraw from the colony when the flowers are 80%. The number of bee colonies varies according to the age of blueberry trees, Huaining County blueberry trees are more than 6 years old, every 0.33hm 2 equipped with 1 box of bees; trees under 6 years old in the hanging fruit park, every 0.47hm 2 equipped with 1 box of bees, the bee colony is more than 8 spleens, to ensure that the bees are larger than the spleen. Pollinating bee colonies are placed in groups of 10 to 20, evenly placed, the bee farm and pollinating blueberries can not be too far apart, and the single box arrangement, multi-box arrangement, C-shaped or U-shaped arrangement are arranged when placed, depending on the site area and terrain. Choose a leeward sunny place, a clean and sufficient water source nearby, and convenient transportation (but not placed on the side of a noisy highway), while paying attention to the site's terrain should be slightly higher than the surrounding area, and the drainage should be smooth, so as to avoid the danger of flooding the nest gate or flash floods on rainy days. When the weather is hot, the site should be well ventilated, with natural shade such as trees being the best, and there are no chemical plants, mines and other polluting enterprises around. When the hive is placed, pay attention to the leeward wind and sun, the bee farm should be kept clean and hygienic, remove the surrounding garbage, weeds, and fallen leaves, and do a good job of site disinfection and rat extermination before entering. Huaining County in March and April when the temperature is high and low, sometimes there is continuous rain, at this time the bee colony is in the breeding period, the group is relatively weak, the average pollination area of each group of bees is relatively small, so increasing the number of bees is conducive to improving the pollination rate of blueberry flowers, and maintaining more bees than spleen is more conducive to the breeding and development of the bee colony itself.
Most of the blueberries in Huaining County are planted in hilly areas, with more slopes, and the naturally grown green plants are extremely rich and the flowers and grasses are luxuriant. Blueberry cultivation is mostly large-scale planting, contiguous area, diverse varieties, honey sources are more abundant. In order to ensure the activity of bees, physical energy and the efficiency of honey collection, the spacing between the bee farm and the bee farm is preferably not more than 2000m, which can not only cover pollinator blueberries well, increase the pollination rate, but also ensure sufficient pollen sources. Once the hive is placed and stabilized, do not move it at will, so as not to affect the living habits of the bee colony and reduce the honey production.
4.2 Temperature control in the hive Maintaining the temperature stability in the hive is a necessary condition to ensure that the bee colony can actively work and expand the colony. The core temperature in the hive is maintained at 34~35 °C, which is conducive to the bees to maintain their activity, increase the honey yield, and improve the ability of the bee colony to expand. Huaining County in March and April weather changes, when the temperature is too low, the hive cover should be covered with insulation in time, while tightening the hive, making the swarm more dense, increasing the number of bees in the unit space, in order to increase the temperature of the nest box, while supplementing nutrition to maintain the vitality of the hive; when the central temperature in the nest is higher than 35 ° C, it is necessary to open the hive cover in time, remove the insulation heat dissipation and cooling, so that the bees go out to fly, excrete, and appropriately reduce the number of bee frames. When the outside temperature rises and the sun rays are strong, the hive should not be exposed to the sun. If the bee farm is located in an open area and there is no shade such as natural trees, a shading shelter can be artificially built. If the nest spleen is found to be heated by the melt, the eggs are dried up, the larvae, pupae die, the young bees bundle wings and other phenomena, it can be determined that the temperature of the hive is too high, at this time, the hive must be ventilated, cooled, dehumidified to avoid the discomfort of the bees, resulting in weakening of the bee colony and the onset of the disease of the bee colony.
4.3 Reasonable feeding
4.3.1 Feeding period During bee breeding, when pollen nectar cannot meet the needs of bees to feed, it must be properly fed. The main blueberry varieties in Huaining County are suitable for flowering at about 30 days, and the initial and final flowering periods are less pollen nectar available for bees to collect, and the bees go out in rainy weather. If the honey storage in the hive is insufficient, it must be properly fed, otherwise the nest is short of honey, the bee colony will be unstable, the bees may escape, and even cause the queen to stop laying eggs. In order to ensure that enough honey can be used for the life of the bee colony, it is not only necessary to feed in a timely and appropriate amount, but also to take turns to take the method of taking the spleen and shaking the honey when harvesting the honey, and the stored honey cannot be shaken at one time, and a certain amount of residual honey should be retained in the nest so that the bee colony can be eaten when the external honey source is insufficient.
4.3.2 Feeding method Honey water feeding: Use the finished blueberry honey to dissolve in warm water and let it cool down and put it into the feeder for feeding. Syrup plus blueberry flower soaking solution feeding: the sugar water ratio of (1.5 ~ 2):1 syrup heat melt cooling, poured into a container with fresh blueberry flowers soaked for about 4 hours, filter out the residual flower residue, leaving blueberry flower syrup soaking solution feeding. Pollen feeding: pollen is rich in nutrients, very important for the growth of larvae, generally with an appropriate amount of pollen added to a small amount of syrup to mix well and feed well. When feeding, attention should be paid to the hygiene of food and utensils, and if necessary, sterilization and disinfection are required. When the weather is better and the natural nectar is sufficient, artificial feeding should be immediately cancelled, so that the bees can go out to collect pollen nectar and improve their enthusiasm for visiting the flowers to collect nectar.
4.4 Timely harvesting of honey and pollen Blueberries bloom in large amounts during the full flowering period, and the production of bees, pollen and royal jelly increased significantly. At this time, it is necessary to harvest honey, pollen and royal jelly in time, reduce the amount of honey stored in the nest, and improve the enthusiasm of bees to go out to collect honey and pollinate. If the artificial pollination and honey are not timely, it will induce the bees to become inert, which will eventually lead to a decrease in the pollination rate of flowers and a decrease in the yield of bee products.
4.5 Bee pest control
4.5.1 Biophysical control In order to ensure the yield and quality of blueberries and effectively protect pollinating bees and other beneficial insects, Huaining County blueberry pest control comprehensively adopts green prevention and control technologies: such as fitness cultivation, cultivating robust trees, and enhancing stress resistance; planting white-flowered clover under the forest to provide a habitat and breeding place for beneficial natural enemy insects and inhibit weed growth; installing and using solar insecticidal lamps to control pests such as scarabs, elephant beetles, stinging moths and nocturnal moths; using pest-tendency booby-trap technology. Promote sugar, wine and vinegar fruit fly traps to trap fruit flies, hang yellow and blue insect trap boards to control leaf pests such as aphids, thrips, leaf beetles, mosquitoes and flies; hang poisonous bee cards (biological missiles) in the park to control larvae such as stinging moths and nocturnal moths; anti-bird nets cover orchards to prevent birds and finches from pecking at blueberries; scientifically use pesticide technology, comprehensively consider factors such as control indicators, the number of natural enemies and the safety of bees, give priority to the use of biological pesticides, and choose highly efficient and environmentally friendly bactericidal insecticides for the symptoms. Through the application of these technologies, the use of pesticides such as insecticides, sterilization and herbicides has been greatly reduced, and the protection of bee colonies has played a positive role. Considering that bees may be mistakenly sticky by hanging yellow and blue trap plates, or attracted by fruit fly traps containing syrup and vinegar mixtures and fall into traps, or damaged by pesticides that must be applied, it is necessary to hang armyworm plates or fruit fly traps during the non-blueberry flowering pollination period. If you must hang a fruit fly trap, its worm hole must be small enough for bees to not enter the bottle. The use of any pesticide that has the potential to harm bees is prohibited during bee pollination and for 10 days before entering the market.
4.5.2 Chemical control (1) Bee mites: Bee mites are mostly hidden in dead branches and rotten grasses around the bee farm. Removing rotten grass, dead branches and leaves, and maintaining environmental hygiene around the bee farm is one of the effective ways to reduce the infestation of bee mites to bee colonies. Once a large number of winged and foot-mutilated larvae crawling in front of the nest gate, and there are dead larvae or pupae on the nest spleen, which are black in color, it can be judged that they may have been harmed by bee mites. Sulfur should be burned in time to kill or kill with acaricide. (2) Chalk disease: fungal infectious disease, the symptoms are swollen, long white villi, wrinkles, hardening into a white dry corpse after the capping. Syrup can be fed with mycomycin and levosimidazole, or Chinese herbal treatments. (3) Paralysis: viral disease, highly contagious, should be paid special attention to. It is often manifested as an adult worker bee with a black body, a thin body, easy to shed hairs on the body, a bulging abdomen, sickly trembling wings and body, unable to fly, and paralyzed.
Syrup is usually fed with 4% peptide butylamine powder or compound sulfadiazine to aggravate sodium carbonate. (4) Sporangiasis: infectious diseases of the digestive tract, common symptoms are that the bee's front and back wings are spread out and cannot be connected normally and neatly, and the food in the digestive tract cannot be digested, causing the abdomen to be enlarged and expanded, and the claws cannot be used. Treatment can be with the addition of metronidazole to rice vinegar for syrup feeding. When using drugs to treat bee diseases, it is necessary to maintain the environmental hygiene of the bee farm, the bee farm and beehives should be disinfected regularly; the water, pollen and honey fed should be clean and sterile; the temperature and humidity of the hive should be maintained, and the number of bee spleens should be properly matched, and the sick bee spleen should be isolated in time, and the dead bee body should be removed to prevent infection.
5 Conclusion
The use of Italian bees to pollinate blueberries can greatly increase the fruit set rate of blueberries, not only improving blueberry production, but also improving blueberry quality. Bee pollinating blueberry single fruit is significantly enlarged, the fruit is round and full, the quality is good, the commerciality is excellent, and honey, pollen, royal jelly and other bee products can be harvested, and the overall benefit has increased significantly. The combination of blueberry bee pollination and green pest control technology is crucial to promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the beekeeping industry, and its ecological and social benefits are of great significance. In the process of promoting bee pollination, we must pay attention to the allocation of bee colonies, environmental control, breeding management, disease prevention and self-cultivation management of blueberry fruit trees, and at the same time strive to solve the current problems of low efficiency of beekeeping, high labor intensity, aging beekeepers, mechanization, scale, and organization, low quality of honey, irregular maintenance and management of bee colonies, many scattered small farmers, and weak ability to organize and coordinate.