Effects of Honey Bee Activity and Cages on Attributes of Thin‐Hull and Normal Safflower Lines1

Abstract

Two safflower lines, a thin‐hull and normal, were subjected to three treatments; caged without bees, caged with bees, and not caged with bees, at Tucson, Arizona. Cage and bee effects were determined on eight attributes and the daily foraging activity of honey bees on the two lines were observed.Cage treatments decreased yield, bushel weight, and hull percentage and increased oil percentage of the normal line. On the thin‐hull line cage effects were of a smaller magnitude but decreased yield, number of seeds per head and percentage of deformed seedlings and increased germination percentage. Effects of bee pollination on the normal line were non‐significant except for a slight decrease in hull percentage. Bee pollination in the thin‐hull line doubled yield, quadrupled the number of seeds per head, reduced weight per 100 seeds, and increased oil percentage.Honey bee activity differed on the two lines. Pollen collectors worked only the normal line whereas nectar collectors worked both lines equally.