Abstract
Abstract The attractiveness of plants to pollinators depends strongly on flower rewards, especially nectar and pollen. Nectar mass, sugar concentration, and sugar mass are known to influence the spectrum and abundance of insect visitors. Respective data on nectar secretion in highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum ) under the climatic conditions of Poland are scarce. This study was conducted in 2002–2005 to assess flower abundance, nectar production, and insect visitors in six varieties of V. corymbosum in Niemce, SE Poland. Flower abundance ranged from 1.63 ± 0.64 (‘Darrow’) to 4.07 ± 0.95 in thousands of flowers per shrub (‘Northland’). Nectar mass, sugar concentration, and nectar sugar mass increased with flower age, peaking between the sixth and ninth day. Significant differences in nectar characteristics occurred between years and between varieties. ‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Darrow’ produced the largest nectar mass (19.08 ± 7.09 and 16.60 ± 8.31 mg nectar per flower, respectively) and nectar sugar mass per flower (6.39 ± 1.52 and 5.76 ± 1.51 mg sugar per flower, respectively). The estimated sugar yield in the studied V. corymbosum varieties ranged from 9.4 ± 3.3 to 20.7 ± 3.8 g sugar per shrub (‘Croatan’ and ‘Bluecrop,’ respectively). Regarding insect visitors, only honey bees and bumble bees were observed. Honey bees comprised 81%–98% of the total number of observed insect visitors. Highbush blueberry, due to abundant blooming and high per-flower sugar yield, is thus a good source of nectar sugars for honey bees.
Highlights
It has been estimated that over 75% of the globally most important food crops depend, to some extent, on animal pollination (Klein et al, 2007), and insect pollination was shown to enhance fruit and seed quantity and quality (Bisui et al, 2020; Bommarco et al, 2012; Castle et al, 2019; Garratt et al, 2014; Pereira et al, 2015; Sushil et al, 2013)
Six V. corymbosum varieties were used, i.e., ‘Bluecrop,’ ‘Bluejay,’ ‘Croatan,’ ‘Darrow,’ ‘Northland,’ and ‘Spartan,’ which had been grown in Niemce (51°22′ N, 22°38′ E; south-eastern Poland) on a farm covering 0.25 ha, established in 1993. e shrubs had been planted at 2 m × 1 m spacing (5,000 plants/ha)
Sugar concentration, and sugar mass in flowers of V. corymbosum varied between years of the present study
Summary
It has been estimated that over 75% of the globally most important food crops depend, to some extent, on animal pollination (Klein et al, 2007), and insect pollination was shown to enhance fruit and seed quantity and quality (Bisui et al, 2020; Bommarco et al, 2012; Castle et al, 2019; Garratt et al, 2014; Pereira et al, 2015; Sushil et al, 2013). Bożek / Nectar Production in Highbush Blueberry et al, 2019); it is an aqueous solution of sugars and other minor constituents, e.g., amino acids, proteins, alkaloids, phenolics, and metal ions (Nicolson & ornburg, 2007; Roy et al, 2017) and is considered an important source of energy to pollinators (Hayashi et al, 2016; Somme et al, 2015). Studies on nectar production may be useful to estimate a plant’s attractiveness to pollinators (Masierowska & Piętka, 2014; Nagy-Déri et al, 2013; Schmidt et al, 2015), which in turn affects yield and quality of fruit and seeds (Bożek, 2012; Quinet et al, 2016), even in self-fertile taxa (i) diurnal patterns of flowering and flower abundance, (ii) nectar secretion dynamics and nectar sugar yield, and (iii) the spectrum of insect visitors were investigated
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