Inadequate bee pollination limits rabbiteye blueberry,Vaccinium ashei Reade, production in the some areas of thesoutheastern United States. Honey bees, Apis mellifera L.,are currently the only manageable pollinators available for pollinatingV. ashei. However, a new adaptable pollinator for rabbiteyeblueberry, Osmia ribifloris Cockerell, was successfullyreared and flown in captivity. The bee nested successfully in woodenshelters and conferred superior fruit set to 2-yr-old potted, rabbiteyeblueberry bushes. Pollination efficiency or the percentage of blueberryflowers to set fruit after being visited once by a female O.ribifloris was comparable to that of the female blueberry beeHabropoda laboriosa (F.) and worker honey bees.Interestingly, honey bees once thought to be inefficient pollinators ofrabbiteye blueberry were found to be very efficient, especially for‘Climax’ and ‘Premier’ flowers.
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1 December 2000
Pollination Efficiencies of Three Bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) Species Visiting Rabbiteye Blueberry
Blair J. Sampson,
James H. Cane
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Journal of Economic Entomology
Vol. 93 • No. 6
December 2000
Vol. 93 • No. 6
December 2000
Apis mellifera
blueberry
fruit set
Habropoda laboriosa
Osmia ribifloris
pollination